In collaboration with the International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments, the Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards presents a weekend of masterclasses, lectures, and recitals drawing on its collection of "Chopin" instruments – original Pleyel, Broadwood, Graf, and Erard pianos. Guest artist-teachers include the internationally renowned pianist and pedagogue Nikolai Demidenko, Tobias Koch (juror for this year's competition), and Cornell’s Mike Cheng-Yu Lee. They are further joined by the eminent Chopin scholar Halina Goldberg (Indiana University–Bloomington).
Six graduate participants – hailing from institutions such as the Yale School of Music, the University of Southern California, the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory – will be hosted on the Cornell campus and will offer two public evening recitals of the music of Chopin.
2023 Chopin Masterclasses Recital I: Saturday May 13th, 8pm Barnes Hall (Tobias Kock with participants)
2023 Chopin Masterclasses Recital II: Sunday May 14th, 8pm Barnes Hall (participants)
The masterclasses and recitals are being held in preparation for the International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments (October 5-15, 2023, Warsaw). This competition aims to promote the idea of playing Chopin’s music on pianos from his time. It encourages pianists specializing in historically informed performance to add the works of Fryderyk Chopin to their repertoire and gives young Chopin specialists a chance to enter the world of historical instruments.
