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Chopin Bicentennial Celebrations Begin
Poland officially began commemorations of the bicentennial of the birth of its most celebrated composer, Frederic Chopin, recently with a ceremony at his birthplace, Żelazowa Wola, about 50 miles west of Warsaw, and a concert in the capital featuring the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. More than
2,000 events, nearly half of them to be held outside Poland, are planned during the bicentennial, including films, jazz performances, exhibitions and the 16th annual Chopin International Competition. In
August, Warsaw will be home to the Chopin and His Europe International Festival, with 50 concerts and over 1,000 performers, and as always will host the 16th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, October
2-23. For Chopin Year 2010 worldwide programming, check updates at www.chopin2010.pl
In the United States, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, in association with the Polish National Film Archive
and Polish National Television are presenting a series of films inspired by the life and art of the great Polish composer.
Filmmakers around the world have explored Chopin’s legacy since the beginning of the film era. Ranging from drama to documentary and from animation to
experimental, the films in this series reveal the cinema’s fascination with Chopin’s music and his dramatic biography, fraught as it was with illness, stormy love affairs, and exile from his homeland.
Six diverse programs will be presented from now until May, highlighted by the visually stunning The Blue Note by Andrzej Zulawski starring Polish pianist
Janusz Olejniczak and Sophie Marceau (May 8); as well as a program of experimental films, including one of the world’s most innovative: The Orchestra by Zbigniew Rybczynski (April 10).
Other films include: Aleksander Ford’s 1951 classic The Youth of Chopin The Youth of Chopin, Calling Mr. Smith, one of the first and most persuasive
World War II-era film experiments, rare footage of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw at different stages in its history. Two Polish documentaries, Born in Warsaw and Under the Sign of
Chopin, as well as the a rarely screened archival newsreel from the competition’s 7th edition, and Impromptu, dir. James Lapine, staring Hugh Grant as Fryderyk Chopin and Judy Davis as George Sand. www.polishculture-nyc.org.
— Staś Kmieć
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