Vacations with Chopin in Warsaw (Vol. 9 No. 5)

The summer began with the Summer Solstice on June 21 and we have two months of rest ahead of us. OK, one month. No? Less? Maybe just one week, or a couple long weekends, if you live in the U.S. where people are so paranoid about having to prove that they are essential at work that they never take the time off, or take it in such small installments, that their absence is practically unnoticed.

Tune in to some mazurkas, first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Un7GuROlM

What Chopin concerts would you attend if you had two months for music, with a nice travel budget to boost your enjoyment. Where would you go?  There are Chopin Festivals and Chopin recital series all over. Let's see what's available in Warsaw and nearby. Of course, when you go there, you'll land at the International Chopin Airport, to start your trip on the right note. There might be a pianist playing at the airport, too...

CHOPIN IN WARSAW

DAILY AT 5 PM, NOWY SWIAT - HOUSE OF MUSIC
Located on the historic boulevard, lined with boutiques and restaurants, this series of concerts is held at 63 Nowy Swiat, and as the website says; "No tour of Poland's capital is complete without listening to Chopin's music live." So this would be a nice stop to make, after sightseeing or shopping, and before dinner...

DAILY AT 6 PM. STARA GALERIA ZPAF, OLD TOWN
Located at 8 Plac Zamkowy ("Castle Square") across the square from the Royal Palace, in a gallery of Polish Artist - Photographers, this series of concerts is held in an art gallery hosting photography exhibitions by Polish and international artists.

DAILY AT 6:30 PM. OLD TOWN, ARCHDIOCESE MUSEUM
http://www.chopinconcerts.pl/. Daily live Chopin concerts in Dean's Palace of the Warsaw Archdiocesan Museum The Old Town in Warsaw ul. Dziekania 1 (next to the Cathedral). Brilliant pianists are playing works of Fryderyk Chopin. The website informs us: "The Dean's Palace is a beautiful historic building, whose full-scale renovation was completed last year. The interior is exclusive and perfectly finished.The concert hall has very good acoustics and the highest quality grand piano produces sound that is pure and rich, which makes listening to the concerts an exceptional experience. The limited seating of 80 creates an intimate and romantic atmosphere resembling the one that was typical of the times in which Fryderyk Chopin performed. Each concert lasts about 55 minutes."  Lovely.

Holy Cross Church on Krakowskie Przedmiescie

DAILY AT 7 PM. KRAKOWSKIE PRZEDMIESCIE 62
Daily concerts in a place where Chopin played at the age of 13. It is located on the "Chopin Route" in the heart of Warsaw. A cozy atmosphere of a salon reproduces the type of music making that was practiced in Chopin's time.  The venue is a quiet coffee house during the day and becomes a concert hall at night.

DAILY AT 7:30 PM CHOPIN'S SALON ON SMOLNA STREET
Located in the downtown business district, in a lively and vibrant part of Warsaw, this concert series features a Steinway piano. Audience members get a glass of wine and a slice of cake to increase the enjoyment of the music.

SUNDAYS FROM MAY TO SEPTEMBER, at 12NOON and 4PM. LAZIENKI ROYAL PARK.
http://en.chopin.warsawtour.pl/events-en/. "For more than 50 years, Chopin Concerts have been held at the foot of the Fryderyk Chopin Monument in the Łazienki Royal Park. Eminent pianists perform every Sunday from mid-May until the end of September, at noon and 4 pm. Hugely popular with Warsaw residents and tourists alike, they are a unique opportunity to listen to classical music while sitting on a blanket in the shade of a tree." Free. The downside used to be the horrible amplification of the piano, which by now should have been fixed, so the piano sounds like a piano and not like an instrument with bronchitis. Aleje Ujazdowskie.

SUNDAYS FROM MAY TO SEPTEMBER, at 12NOON and 3PM. ZELAZOWA WOLA.
Chopin's birthplace, the little manor in an exquisite park in Zelazowa Wola, is a delightful site of Chopin recitals through the summer. You have to catch a bus tour, or drive out of town - Zelazowa Wola is located in Gmina Sochaczew, Sochaczew County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies on the Utrata River, some 8 kilometres (5 mi) northeast of Sochaczew and 46 km (29 mi) west of Warsaw. There are few things more lovely in life, than listening to an excellent pianist performing Chopin's music, while being seated somewhere in the park, filled with beautiful trees, gardens, and sculptures.  And none of that annoying amplification - the concerts are live and acoustic. At least were, when I last visited the site. A must for everyone, at least once in a lifetime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivOUu9CywwY

THURSDAYS FROM JANUARY TO JULY, AT PM. YOUNG TALENTS AT THE CHOPIN MUSEUM.
Located at Tamka St. the old "Ostrogski Palace' is now the Chopin Museum with a state of the art exhibition about the life, context, and music of the great pianist composer. Young pianists have a chance to present their talents in the concert hall within the museum on Thursdays at 6 p.m.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVTNj2e5zA0

Here's one talent, a 10 year old prodigy performing at the Royal Castle in Warsaw in 2018:

JULY 5-15, 2018. CHOPIN TO GORECKI FESTIVAL at CHOPIN UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC. Summer master classes for young pianists from around the world, with public concerts at the University's concert hall. Okolnik 2, Street, parallel to Nowy Swiat, walking distance to the Chopin Museum on Tamka Street. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r2PC6KFF9E

Krakowskie Przedmiescie, towards Zamkowy Square.

TUESDAYS AT 6PM, JULY-AUGUST. CHOPIN EVENINGS AT THE CHOPIN UNIVERSITY
The same location as above, Okolnik 2, walking distance from the Chopin Museum on Tamka Street, free concerts every Tuesday by students and graduates of the University of Music or other institutions, give concerts on the patio or in the Concert Hall, depending on the weather.

Ballroom at the Royal Castle

12-30 AUGUST 2018. CHOPIN AND HIS EUROPE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
Organized by the National Chopin Institute since 2005, this large-scale festival includes symphonic and chamber music concerts, as well as solo recitals in various venues around WArsaw, including the Holy Cross Church on Krakowskie Przedmiescie where his heart is buried, and the National Philharmonic.

Grand Theater of Opera and Ballet.

2-14 SEPTEMBER. FIRST INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: CHOPIN ON PERIOD INSTRUMENTS. Organized by the National Chopin Institute, this competition places at the disposal of pianists a number of historic pianos, such as Erard, Pleyel, or Broadwood. The effects will be fascinating, I'm sure. Events to be held at the Grand Theater of Opera and Ballet, the Polish Radio, and the Holy Cross Church.

Period piano (Graff) in Paris.

Piano Bench in Warsaw

And of course, you can walk from one Chopin Bench to another, and see if the music boxes still work - they were embedded in these black marble benches since 2010. The benches are engraved with the route marking the most important locations associated with Chopin.  There is a different story associated with each location, a moment in Chopin's life - his studies, family, friends, or concerts.

Royal Lazienki Palace