(Pic: Christopher Duigan) Christopher Duigan launches classical piano recital programme marking 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth.
Marking the 200th anniversary of Fredrick Chopin’s birth in Żelazowa Wola, near Warsaw, Poland in 1810, Christopher Duigan marks this special occasion with a selection on music focusing on this composer's highly engaging musical output.
Widely regarded as one of South Africa’s most innovative concert pianists Christopher Duigan has maintained a busy concert career having performed extensively with all leading South African orchestras. His CD recordings are regularly aired on ClassicFM, Johannesburg and Fine Music Radio. Major performances for 2008 include a number of solo performances in gala concerts with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, recitals in Cape Town and the Franschhoek International Literary Festival.
With a local parish document listing the birth of Fredrick Chopin on February 22 1810, the official date of March 1 was the date the composer usually used. Now, 200 years later, Christopher Duigan devotes an entire performance to Chopin's magnificent piano writing. Chopin wrote almost exclusively for the piano and his name is synonymous with the world's most popular piano music. While previously admired for his poetic, even nostalgic overtones, in recent years and under closer technical scrutiny, Chopin's music has revealed a highly complex and classical construction. It is, in fact, this balance of poetry and intellect, personal freedom and classical principal in the design of the music, that makes the music so profound and also so appealing.
This celebratory programme includes Waltz in C-sharp minor, ‘Minute’ Waltz, Nocturne in E-flat, Ballade No 1, Scherzo No 2 in B-flat minor, Mazurkas, ‘Raindrop’ Prelude, Fantasie-Impromptu and other works.
KZN performances are scheduled as follows: February 23 - Howard College Theatre, UKZN Durban at 19h30 (Tel: 031 260 3353); February 24 - St Agnes Church in Kloof at 19h30 (Tel: 031 764 2037); February 25 - St Michael’s Church in Himeville at 19h30 (Tel: 033 702 1013); February 26 - Hilton College Memorial Concert Hall at 19h30 (Tel: 033 383 0126), and March 1 - 35 Montgomery Drive in Pietermaritzburg at 19h30 (Tel: 033 342 3051).
Further performances take place at the NG Church in Franschhoek on February 27 at 19h30 (Tel: 083 417 4473) and on February 28 in Johannesburg at Olde'e'New in Empire Road at 15h30 (Tel: 083 414 0041).
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