Will our next 15th Anniversary Season be the best ever?

When we select the artists we are not just looking for masters of the keyboard but exceptional communicators, the artists who make live concerts an incredible experience, the ones with huge personal charisma. I am positive that all four of next season’s artists meet this criteria perfectly.

“Imagine somebody coming to the stage, with the appearance of a high school professor. He just sits down and puts his hands on the keyboard. It looks as if he does not want to pay too much attention. Then we hear the first sound. First, I am frozen in my seat. Then my breath is taken away and I start to shiver. And for the next two hours it is real magic happening and before the end of the show I start to have a dream that I stay in the audience the whole night and he plays and plays and plays. …” This is how one of the critics described her personal experience at one of Switala’s recent recitals. He is considered by many connoisseurs to be one of the best Chopin interpreters.

Daniil Trifonov became a superstar after winning in the 2011 Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky Competitions. Trifonov’s sold-out recitals leave audiences both astonished and deeply touched.

Rafal Blechacz, the first prize winner at the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2005 and a charismatic pianist, greatly impressed the audience in a sold out concert at the Chan Centre in 2008. His latest CD, Szymanowski and Debussy, was chosen as the ‘Disc of The Month’ in May 2012 by Deutsche Grammophon. Rafał Blechacz is one of DG’s best-selling young artists – his stunning albums have sold more than 160,000 units worldwide. Blechacz’s career reminds me much of Zimermann’s. He has taken time to expand his repertoire instead of seeking for quick fame. Blechacz insists on playing no more than 40 concerts a year.

We also have one newcomer, Denis Kozhukhin, the First Prize winner in the 2010 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Last year, Kozhukhin, along with Trifonov, impressed both the most music critics and audience at the Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdroj.

Following the last recital, there will be a reception to celebrate our 15th Anniversary. The gala reception will cost you only $25 if you decide to subscribe this season but don’t feel that it is necessary to buy a ticket to the reception. If you are a current subscriber and would like to keep the same seats, please let us know in the next few days that you want to renew and you can pay later in July. We will not hold seats any longer.

You now have more options to buy your subscription as it is possible to buy online through a Tickets Tonight secure server: http://ticketstonight.ticketforce.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=1819 You can also go to our site: www.chopinsociety.org and click Subscription Tickets from the Subscribe menu that will redirect you to the Tickets Tonight site. Subscribers can also buy additional tickets at a reduced price.

Some of you have expressed concern that we have two of four of our concerts at the Chan Centre. We try to stick to our smaller regular venues,however, due to the unavailability of other venues for the dates we require with our artists, we have booked the Chan. We are trying to arrange free parking passes for all subscribers for Blechacz’s concert.