Ewa Poblocka's season opening concert

We are looking forward to our opening concert on Friday, October 14 where Ewa Poblocka will play a wonderful program. She is on an extensive American tour right now where she is performing solo as well with her daughters, Ewa Leszczyńska (vocal) and Maria Leszczyńska (cello), with whom she performs as the Multi Trio. Every time we invite Polish pianist we always hear beautiful Chopin playing, and Poblocka is one of the best in Poland. Among Chopin pieces, she will play six waltzes and we have much to look forward to based off of what Dave Saeman wrote in Fanfare magazine: "Pobłocka’s waltzes sound like nobody else’s, as may be said of Dinu Lipatti and Agustin Anievas’s. This is a sign of a rare spiritual communication with Chopin’s muse."

Charles Richard-Hamelin

I was in Warsaw in September and I spoke to many music critics and musicians and I was proud to hear many superlatives about Charles playing. Since winning the 2nd prize at the 17th International Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2015, and being the first Canadian ever to win a top prize in this prestigious Competition, he performed many times in Poland, always getting raving reviews. I hope that most of you will come for this concert to show support for this fantastic pianist.

We have a special offer for you: Buy three tickets or more, you will get a free parking pass and 10% off to one of two restaurants close to the Playhouse, valid on November 6, 2016 only. We hope you will not miss his Vancouver debut.

if you already bought two subscriptions, by buying one more ticket you will be entitled to this special offer. By the way this extra ticket will cost you much less than a regular ticket price because as a subscriber you are entitled to a 30% discount for each extra ticket bought. Please call 604.871.4450 or Tickets Tonight 604.684.2787.

The 20th anniversary 2017-2018 Season

On top of our regular series we will have a very special event. We always had a dream to demonstrate to Vancouver audiences how Polish folklor music influenced Chopin in composing mazurkas and polonaises and how Chopin influences music on five continents. We have invited the famous Maria Pomianowska and her folk band from Poland who will be joined by chamber musicians, a dance group and Inuit singers. We hope that this fun event will help students to understand a source of Chopin's inspiration.
I had the pleasure of meeting Maria Pomianowska in Warsaw this September and we discussed all the details of this project which will require a lot of effort and preparation. This cross culture project fits perfectly in 2017, a year where we are celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary.
Maria Pomianowska is a Professor of the Academy of Music in Cracow and director of the Cross-Culture Warsaw Festival. She is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer and teacher. She has been studying unique techniques of playing Asian instruments, travelling to India, China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan and Middle East. In 2000 drawing from her rich Asian experiences she composed pieces, which were ordered by a world-wide famous cellist Mr. Yo-Yo Ma. In 2010, she recorded a new CD: Chopin on 5 continents- Maria Pomianowska and friends, with unique arrangements of Chopin'€™s masterpieces written for ethnic instruments from all over the world. This will be presented in Vancouver in the second half of the show.

All subscribers to our series will enjoy a special price for this event.

We will also present next season Seong Jin-Cho, the winner of the last Chopin Competition in Warsaw.

My trip to Europe

I had a great trip to Europe where I attended several recitals played by pianists we are interested in. I also visited the Chopin Institute in Warsaw to speak about some collaboration in presenting young talents. I met music critics and musicians and got a bounty of useful information about our future pianists.
Those who follow Michael Moran's classical music blog: I met him too and he is just finishing editing his latest book about his uncle, pianist Edward Cahill. It will be published soon in Australia. If you want to read about Michael's family quest that started many years ago, there is a link below.