Thank You

It had been a memorable and successful 20th Anniversary for The Vancouver Chopin Society.

We kicked off the concert season with a bold experiment - a concert that brought together Maria Pomianowska and her folk band from Poland, and musicians and dancers from our very own community. Everyone in the audience enjoyed the music making, and was excited and inspired by this original and groundbreaking musical experiment.

In November of 2017, we presented the highly anticipated Vancouver recital debut of Seong-Jin Cho, gold medalist of the prestigious 2015 Warsaw International Chopin Competition. Cho’s programme of music by Beethoven, Debussy and Chopin revealed not only a finished artist, but also an artistic maturity and interpretative depth far beyond his tender age.

The beginning of 2019 was marked by a pair of all-Chopin recitals by Janusz Olejniczak at Christ Church Cathedral, our first collaboration with Early Music Vancouver. Olejniczak played both recitals on a beautifully restored 1852 Broadwood piano as well as on a modern Steinway. It was a fascinating experience to listen to the acoustical difference between a period instrument and a modern piano.

Another sold-out audience greeted pianist Rafal Blechacz at the Vancouver Playhouse, in a gala performance officially celebrating our 20th Anniversary. He moved the Playhouse audience with the depth and beauty of his playing, in a recital of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and of course Chopin. At the post-concert reception, our board of directors paid a well-deserved tribute to society founder and immediate past president Iko Bylicki, for his dedication and very hard work these many years.

At the Blechacz we also had a special draw, the prize being a trip to Warsaw for the finals of the first ever International Chopin Competition on period instrument. The winner, six-year old Nathan Lai and his parents, are very excited about their impending trip to Poland. Bon voyage!

Because of the success of the draw, we hope to be able to have a similar draw to send a lucky winner to the finals of the 2020 Warsaw International Chopin Competition. Stay tuned.

Our season concluded in the grand style with a stunning recital by Ukrainian-Australian artist Alexander Gavrylyuk, who brought to us a varied programme of works by Bach/Busoni, Haydn, Chopin, Scriabin and Rachmaninov. It was certainly a wonderful conclusion to a successful and fulfilling season.

On May 28th, The Vancouver Chopin Society also presented renowned musicologist and musical bibliographer Margit McCorkle in a lecture entitled “Chopin, Schumann, Wieck and Mendelssohn: Genius encountering genius in the 1830’s”. Using musical examples, McCorkle’s insightful words put into historical perspective many musical works from these composers that we all know and love.

The Vancouver Chopin Society thank the City of Vancouver, the government of British Columbia, Tom Lee Music, the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Vancouver, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, KGHM, and the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, and for their support.

And thank you, everyone, for your support these past 20 years. Any artist, no matter how great, needs an audience, and we thank you for being such a wonderfully receptive audience for all the musicians we presented.

We look forward to seeing all of you in all the performances of our very exciting 2018-2019 concert season.

The 2018-2019 season

The Vancouver Chopin Society is one of the few musical organizations in the city to offer a 25% discount for subscriptions and 20% discount for single tickets to seniors, students and B.C.R.M.T.A. members. The price for youth (grades 1 through 12) is again an incredible $15 per ticket.

Both the new season brochure and ticket order form can be opened and printed directly from our website. You can also open them here: the 2018-2019 season brochure or order form.