Chopin Soirée – The Poet Of The Piano
The 14th International Sfogato Music & Arts Festival in Krakow, organized by The Sfogato Music & Arts Society, began with the Chopin Soirée – The Poet of The Piano concert (October 17, 2023) on the 174th anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's death in the Ballroom of the Villa Decius Institute of Culture.
The festival is held under the honorary patronage of:
Marshal of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Witold Kozłowski
The Mayor of Krakow, Jacek Majchrowski
Metropolitan Archbishop of Krakow Marek Jędraszewski
The program of the Chopin Soirée, co-organized by the Villa Decius Cultural Institute and performed by: Marek Polański - violin, Tomasz Jarosz - baritone, Marta Polańska - piano, included: works by Fryderyk Chopin (solo and transcribed for violin and piano) closely referring to the Fryderyk Chopin's artistic activities in the context of the composer's cooperation with Marcelina Czartoryska. The Princess Czartoryska was Chopin's student, present with the composer on the day of his death, and from 1870 she ran a music salon in her home in Krakow - in the Villa Decius. Fryderyk Chopin dedicated the Mazurka in A minor, Op. 7 No. 4 to Marcelina Czartoryska, which was heard at the end of the Chopin Soirée. The program, in addition to the works of Fryderyk Chopin, also included works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Caroline Unger and Stanisław Moniuszko, whose song "Znasz-li ten kraj" - an Italian gondolier was composed to the words of the poem Do H*** Wezwanie do Neapolu (To H*** A Call to Naples) by Adam Mickiewicz dedicated to Henrietta Ewa Ankwiczówna - the previous owner of Villa Decius, before Marcelina Czartoryska.
Since the first edition of the event, the festival stage has been decorated with sunflowers, which, in connection with Schubert's song "Aus Heliopolis I", constitute a metaphor for a journey towards the sun. Their ability to turn towards the sun is seen as a metaphor for the human quest for enlightenment and self-realization.
On October 18, 2023, members of the Sfogato Musical and Arts Society laid flowers decorating the concert stage on the grave of Princess Marcelina Czartoryska.
Media patronage: TVP 3 Kraków, Radio Kraków, POLMIC.pl, Krakow.pl, Kraków The Open City
Portraits of Fryderyk Chopin and Alexei Sultanov (to whose memory Chopin Soirée is always dedicated): Kazuko Narumi (Japan)