The Chopin Year in Krakow

Chopin in Kraków

The Chopin Year, celebrating the composer's 200th birthday, officially began in Krakow on February 28, 2010. It was inaugurated by a mass in the Cathedral on the Wawel Hill and the embedding of the medallion with the picture of Frederick Chopin in the Crypt of National Bards.

Throughout the year many concerts, exhibitions, projects, competitions, and actions in public space will take place.



The Chopin Year is primarily about music. Krakow will be visited by many world-renowned artists who will perform the works of Polish composer. Already on February 25 there was a concert featuring the famous Eighteenth Century Orchestra under the direction of Frans Brüggen at the Cracow Philharmonic. On March 3 we had an excellent opportunity to hear a concert of the Grammy award winner Yefim Bronfman, who has performed with the best soloists, conductors and orchestras in the world. On March 18, Louis Lortie gave a concert in Krakow and on March 25 the Fado world music star Mísia gave a concert called Our Chopin Affair.

The events in the spring and summer also promise to be interesting. Olga Kern, winner of the gold medal at the prestigious Van Cliburn Competition in 2001, will perform in Krakow on May 16. The Cracow Philharmonic invited the winner of the Chopin Competition 2005, young Rafal Blechacz, to Krakow for a concert on May 28. Chopin's music will also be played on Wawel Hill. The Chopin festival on the castle hill, Wawel at Twilight, will start on July 3.

In the summer, the jazz sensation Bobby McFerrin will give a concert in Krakow. McFerrin will play on August 18 during the Summer Jazz Festival with the NDR Big Band in a special program based on Chopin’s music.

In autumn, Krakow will host the nationwide project Chopinomania as well as the Second Piano Festival of the Royal City of Krakow (24-31 October) that will be devoted to Chopin’s music.


Manggha Museum of Japanese Arts and Technology has announced a competition to design a kimono referring to Chopin and his works. Manggha will also present the music project Chopin, Three Colors which will be a presentation of the master’s works on three levels of musical and cultural backgrounds. There will be jazz based on the works of Chopin, a project Chopin on 5 Continents using the original musical instruments as well as Chopin & Tango - a summary of the most popular works of Chopin and Piazzolla's tangos, which aims to search for the common features between these two composers.

The Krakow Festival Office has also prepared an exhibition of Jerzy Duda-Gracz’s Chopin Cycle, watercolors influenced by Chopin’s music. The exhibition of twenty large-format reproductions Duda-Gracz’s work is located on Czerwieński Boulevard, near the Dębnicki Bridge. Until April 30 at Pavilion Wyspianski you can see Young Poland artist Wojciech Weiss’ sketches of the composer as well as landscapes referring to the music of Chopin. The exhibition was made possible by cooperation between the Krakow Festival Office and the Wojciech Weiss Foundation Museum. Chopin’s sojourn in Krakow is commemorated by the Jagiellonian University Museum, which has in its collection the Pleyel piano on which Chopin played during his stay in Scotland.


During the Chopin Year more unusual events are also planned. Replicas of the 1847 Pleyel piano have been placed in six different places around Krakow. These life-size reproductions are made of different materials and painted by famous Polish artists. The pianos can be found on Rondo Mogilskie, Plac Wszystkich Swietach, the Main Market Square (Rynek Glowny), Plac Wolnica and Aleja Roz.

Acoustic Showers – multimedia sculptures that will play Chopin’s works by Aleksander Janicki – will be set throughout the city in the near future. The sculptures will have different forms: Satellite Sphere, St@tion, Origami Crane and a Fallen Piano. The first sculpture, Satellite Sphere, will be placed on Plac Jana Nowaka-Jezioranskiego on April 30. The others will be unveiled once a month: St@tion on May 14 on ul. Szewska, Origami Crane on June 4 near Manggha on Polesie Boulevard, and finally Fallen Piano on July 2 near the Słowacki Theatre on Planty.

Additionally, different urban spaces will change their appearances. The underground passage from the railway station towards the Market on May 4 will transform to a place of fun and relaxation. There you will find posters advertising the Chopin Year celebrations in Krakow. Sound mats will be placed on the stairs so that you can listen to music tapped by your feet as you walk, turning the floor into a piano keyboard while the benches will be painted with the piano keys. Musical benches will also be placed on the Vistula Boulevard. At some tram stops you will be able to sit on the piano chairs and the floor will change into the piano keyboard. All sculptures, pianos and musical benches will be on display until the end of the year. For more information, please go to: http://www.chopinwmiescie.pl/