CHOPIN SOCIETIES IN THE WORLD A Meeting in Paris Te Vancouver Chopin Society (Vancouver/CANADA) In “Chopin in the World 2019”, I wrote the following: “For our 22nd season, beginning on November 10, 2019, we have invited fve more virtuosi to share their art and their music with us: Zlata Chochieva, Federico Colli, Kevin Kenner, Tomasz Ritter, and Dina Yofe. We look for- ward to our new season with intense anticipation” Our efusive brochure/booklet set out the season with the rubric “Music Tat Gladdens the Soul”, and Chochieva’s and Kenner’s music achieved all of that, in spades. And then the 22nd season of Te Vancouver Chopin Society was over, never to be completed, as the world in its entirety was pandemically overtaken. A meeting of the IFCS Board Te meeting also involved a visit to Our fnal three concerts of fve and Audit Committee was held in the Polish Library in Paris and places were wiped out: Federico Colli, Paris on 28 February and 1 March marked by the presence of Chopin in Tomasz Ritter, and Dina Yofe, sched- 2020. Te meeting was organized by that city. uled from March to May 2020, would Societé Chopin à Paris. Attending the On 1 March we were invited to not, with good reason, appear. Tat meeting were: Teodor Kanitzer, A the Téâtre des Champs Elysées to we were able to access online concerts ntoine Paszkiewicz, Elżbieta Artysz, a gala concert held on the occasion by messrs. Colli and Ritter was conso- Mariusz Fituch, Rosa Capllonch- of Fryderyk Chopin’s birthday. Te lation, of course. Ferra and Ariel Paszkiewicz and Paweł Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra was Zlata Chochieva’s season-opening Urbański. Also present were assistants conducted by Łukasz Borowicz. In the recital on November 10, 2019 was as Jakub Dmeński and Mariusz Morga frst part of the concert, the orchestra richly satisfying---even astonishing- and a guest invited by the organ- performed works by Polish composers --as expectations had led one to believe. izer – Jadwiga Merkur, President of associated with Paris (Roman Palester, Schubert’s G major D.894 Sonata was the Board of the Chopin Festival in Alexandre Tansman) and in the sec- profoundly explored by Chochieva Duszniki Zdrój Foundation. ond it accompanied Rafał Blechacz in a deeply-moving frst half, while Te program of the Grand Chopin in a beautiful rendition of Chopin’s Mendelssohn and Rachmaninof Meeting to be held in October 2020 Piano Concerto in E minor. A capac- were set of triumphantly against each in Warsaw and drafted by the General ity audience rewarded all musicians other in the second half with four of Secretary was agreed at the Meeting of with thunderous applause. the former’s Songs Without Words the Board (Te conference “Chopin in Te eminent organizes of the and six of the latter’s Études-Tableaux: South America”, Grand Assembly of Meeting – Antoine and Ariel here was piano-playing artistry of a the IFCS, rules of participation in au- Paszkiewicz also provided us with an 1 high order indeed. And when has ditions to the Chopin Competition) *. opportunity to try some specialties of Rachmaninof’s delightful frothing the French cuisine. Tank you! of the scherzo from Mendelssohn’s 1 Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the A Midsummer Night’s Dream spun Chopin Competition and the Grand with such brio! Tis was a splendid Chopin Meeting were moved to the night indeed. year 2021. 29 www.chopinfederation.pl Zlata Chochieva and the VCS Board. Kevin Kenner had appeared in concert with our Society in the past, Chopin-Gesellschaft and it was the happiest of pleasures to welcome him back for his recital, in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland e.V. exactly two weeks after Chochieva’s. (Darmstadt / GERMANY) And what a boon it was to hear from him six miniatures by Paderewski, in- 50th Anniversary in 2020 Te concert began with introduc- cluding the once-ubiquitous Menuet tory speeches by Hartmut Stolzmann, in G in a performance for the ages. In the jubilee year of 2020 the Aleksandra Mikulska (President of the Chopin Society in Darmstadt paid Beginning his concert with a sonata Society), Jochen Partsch (Lord Mayor tribute to its namesake with an attrac- by Haydn, his No.48, was life-giving, of Darmstadt) and Jakub Wawrzyniak to both Haydn and us, his listeners. tive blend of well-known and lesser- (Consul General of the Republic Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze of known works by the great master. Our almost infnite variety, and Chopin, of frst gala concert on February 29th of Poland in Cologne), who paid course, fve mazurkas and the fourth featured four frst prizewinners of past tribute to the Polish pianist Maciej scherzo, completed an evening of mu- Darmstadt competitions. Lukaszczyk (1934 – 2014), who sical riches rarely experienced in the short span of a concert. As for the 2020-21 season, our speculatively 23rd, there are as yet nu- merous questions. Te Vancouver Chopin Society functions because of the dedication and enthusiasm of our volunteers, led by our President, Patrick May, and our Artistic Director, Lee Kum-Sing, and our board of directors. Henry Ewert Vice-President Te Vancouver Chopin Society Four former frst-prize-winners of the Darmstadt Chopin competition play at the an- niversary concert on February 29th, 2020, to celebrate the society’s 50th anniversary. From left to right: Janne Mertanen, Claire Huangci, Ivett Gyöngyösi and Joanna Marcinkowska. Chopin in the World 2020 30 founded the society in 1970, honour- ing his pioneering work in bringing people together in very difcult times and thanking the Chopin Society for its long-term commitment, for promoting young talent and for its cross-border work. Te frst of the four outstand- ing pianists to perform was Joanna Marcinkowska from Poland (win- ner in 2002), who demonstrated her brilliant skills with a nocturne, three waltzes and the “Andante spianato and grande Polonaise”. Next, the Finn Janne Mertanen, (winner in 1992), “emphasized the poetic side of Chopin’s music, giving an introverted rendering of the C sharp minor polonaise and two late Romantic Polish pianist and politi- Krakowiak” last rang out in Darmstadt. nocturnes, while his performance of the cian Ignacy Jan Paderewski, including Back then, the founder and long-time Barcarolle in F sharp major almost en- not only the famous menuet, but also the president of the Chopin Society, Maciej tered the realm of impressionism.” (Klaus tricky “Caprice a la Scarlatti” and the Lukaszczyk, had been at the piano, ac- Trapp, Darmstädter Echo 2.3.2020) fast-paced “Cracovienne fantastique”. companied by the Chamber Orchestra Ivett Gyöngyösi from Hungary (ibid.) of the Merck Philharmonic. At the an- (winner in 2013) performed the Soon after this, there followed a niversary concert celebrating the 50th F sharp minor polonaise and four long hiatus in our concert activity. anniversary of the society, this youthful mazurkas op. 30, which had gained Te Corona virus pandemic forced us work of the 18-year-old Chopin was on her additionally the mazurka prize to cancel all concerts between March the programme again for the frst time.” in Darmstadt in 2013. She then fur- and August, and we hoped and prayed After the unprecedented success of ther delighted the audience with her that our long planned September con- the 2015 Chopin Marathon, in which interpretation of Liszt’s Hungarian cert with piano and orchestra would twenty-three young pianists per- Rhapsody No. 10, a brilliant bravura be possible. formed, in the order of composition, piece resplendent with octaves and We were delighted that it was able all the piano solo works of the Polish fashing glissandi. Finally, the climax to take place and we enjoyed two won- genius non-stop over sixteen hours, of the long evening followed with derful concerts on September 4th and it was the unwavering intention of the performance of the pianist Claire 5th, 2020, which of course had to take the Chopin Society to present for the Huangci (winner in 2009): “Te place under strict Corona regulations Darmstadt audience Chopin’s entire elegantly served bolero was followed by that required wearing masks when oeuvre for piano and orchestra at a the three nocturnes of Opus 9, in which standing close together (see photo). In gala concert in the Orangerie. Due to the soloist demonstrated her deep sense her review for the Darmstädter Echo the corona pandemic however, both of sound. To the delight of the audi- on 7.9.2020 Silvia Adler wrote: the duration of the event and the or- ence she fnished with samples from the “It had been almost forty years since chestra had to be curtailed, and three “Humoresques de concert” op. 14 by the Chopin’s rarely played “Rondo à la of the six works had to be performed in a version for piano solo. Te young Polish pianist Piotr Pawlak had at short notice adapted the score of Chopin’s “Krakowiak” op. 14 for piano solo, which he performed on the frst evening (see photo). ”Te winner of the 2017 Darmstadt Chopin Competition unfolded with luminous sound a poetic tableau of fowing, ex- plosive colours.” (ibid.). Apparently without applying force, his fne touch developed sounds of expressive vol- ume. “Variations on La ci darem la Mano ”op. 2 from Mozart’s opera“ Don Giovanni” were performed by the Darmstadt pianist Sabine Simon, whose vivid shaping of the vocal lines, 30 31 www.chopinfederation.pl Kevin Kenner and Aleksandra Mikulska performing on September 5th with the Mainz Chamber Philharmonic under the baton of Catherine Rückwardt characterized by a fne-textured, fligree sound. Te concert concluded with a memorable rendition of the E minor concerto by Kevin Kenner.