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Marathon concert kicks off Chopin birthday celebrations
Feb 22, 2010, 20:12 GMT
Warsaw - A marathon week-long concert of Chopin music kicked off Monday night in Warsaw as part of nationwide celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the Polish composer's birth.
Actors, music students and dozens of Chopin fans will take turns at the piano until March 1, connecting the two dates that are disputed to have been the composer's birthday.
Documents show January 22 as the date of Chopin's birth, but the composer and family have given March 1 as the date.
Organizers said fans will be able to listen to Chopin waltzes, mazurkas or polonaises for free anytime of day or night during the event at Polonia House, which aims to highlight Chopin's legacy in Warsaw, where he spent most of his life.
Some 1,000 musicians have signed up for a turn at the keyboard, organizers said.
Poland's Chopin bicentennial is to include the opening of a new museum dedicated to the leading Romantic composer, born in the village of Zelazowa Wola in 1810, as well as hundreds of concerts, a ballet premiere and educational youth projects.
Similar events will be staged across Europe and Asia, with special events scheduled in Paris, where the composer lived after leaving Warsaw.
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