Archive for October, 2010

The complete prizewinners’ concert from the opera house in Warsaw is available online: Concert from the opera house in Warsaw

Chopin’s Surpise Winner Announcement A brief feature summarizing the announcement of Yulianna Avdeeva as the grand prize winner of the Chopin Competition…including a clip by a very surprised Italian audience member who did not agree with the jury.

Chopin Radio Postcard #3 Lisa and I discuss the lights going out during the second night of the finals (due to some mismatched wires, not a power outage), and the fact that the lights didn’t faze any of the pianists.  We also hear a report summarizing the finals so far. Photo:  Chopin’s birthplace at Zelazowa more…

Chopin Radio Postcard #2 Today from Warsaw, we discussed the first night of the finals of the competition, during which 10 finalists each perform one of Chopin’s concertos with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. And we hear music by audience favorite Austrian Ingold Wunder, from the third round. Photo by David Polk:  About 200,000 daily “Chopin more…

Here is our first live radio report back to Chicago discussing the competition up to that point, including the third round announcement.  Brief interviews with Francois DuMont and Australian Jayson Gillham, plus some music from the third round. Chopin Radio Postcard #1 Photo by David Polk:  The Chopin Institute took out huge billboards around Warsaw more…

Thanks to all for following our reports from the Chopin Competition in Warsaw. I’ll soon be posting all of the audio and some final thoughts about the competition.

Just returned from the first day of the final round of the competition, and I have the second piano concerto in my head on repeat. That may be because I just heard it three times in one concert…what a riot! (Though Polish finalist Pawel Wakarecy performed the second concerto, allowing our ears a brief break more…

I don’t have access yet to the press pool photography, but here’s a crude photograph of my favorite page in the thick program book.  Instead of boring head shots of every performer, the Chopin Competition has employed a team of photographers who have been following the entrants since the preliminary round in April and I more…

There is built in drama and excitement in every competition, and in the Chopin Competition this manifests itself in the lobby of the Philharmonic where spectators, press and competitors all gather together to await the results read by the chairman of the jury. Photo: Competition awaits results of the third round which eliminates 10 of more…

AUDIO POST – Following the Chopin Competition is a a bit more similar to covering a world cup soccer tournament than we expected, and so we thought that our first scheduled on-air report from Warsaw on Monday was way too late.