The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra will mark composer Fryderyk Chopin’s 200th anniversary with Polish Pride - an evening of sweeping Polish classical music on Thursday 29 April at 7:30pm at Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra will mark composer Fryderyk Chopin’s 200th anniversary with Polish Pride - an evening of sweeping Polish classical music on Thursday 29 April at 7:30pm at Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre.

Coinciding with Polish National Day on May 3 and warmly supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, the Orchestra’s programme not only honours the great master of the Romantics but celebrates the indomitable Polish spirit.

Polish Pride includes Chopin’s widely-loved Piano Concerto No. 2, performed by distinguished soloist Diedre Irons and conducted by acclaimed Polish conductor Jacek Kaspszyk - making a welcome return to the NZSO after fifteen years.

The emotional piece was written when the composer was just 19 and is considered “classically Chopin”. Among the first ever to express national pride in music, Chopin’s work was described as “a cannon concealed amid blossoms” – beautifully expressive and bursting with vitality.

The programme also includes Chopin’s Nocturne, the Concert Overture by Karol Szymanowski and renowned twentieth-century composer Witold Lutoslawski’s Fourth Symphony.

Polish Pride will also include a brief address by the Polish Ambassador to New Zealand Beata Stoczynska, and guest of honour the Governor-General Hon Sir Anand Satyanand, acknowledging this month’s tragic air crash in Smolensk which claimed the lives of 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski and First Lady Mrs Maria Kaczynska.

Mrs Stoczynska says: “The Embassy of the Republic of Poland is delighted that the NZSO is so enthusiastically celebrating Poland’s greatest composers. Polish Pride will be a welcome celebration of all that is Polish, and a wonderful opportunity for New Zealand’s Polish community to look to the future with undimmed optimism.”

NZSO Chief Executive Peter Walls says: “Polish Pride is a concert showing two centuries of extraordinary creativity from Polish composers. This is the perfect evening for lovers of Romantic music and Polish culture to celebrate the glories and tragedies of a proud country, beautifully realised by the players of the NZSO.”

This concert will be broadcast live on Radio NZ Concert. It was organised under the honorary patronage of Hon Chris Finlayson, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, and the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland Mrs. Beata Stoczynska.