From what scores does the orchestra perform Chopin’s concertos during the finals of the 19th Chopin Competition?

During the current edition of the Chopin Competition, the orchestra is performing Chopin’s piano concertos using scores prepared by the research and editorial team of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute. The scores are meticulously edited based on research into historical sources and with the intention of conveying the composer’s creative intentions as precisely as possible.

To date, some popular editions of Chopin’s concertos on the music market have contained various changes to the partially preserved manuscript of the F minor Concerto and the original first scores of both concertos, published in 1833 and 1836 by the French publisher Maurice Schlesinger. Above mentioned changes to these sources, made in the commonly used editions, primarily concerned the instrumentation. Therefore, when listening to performances based on the scores currently edited by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, one sometimes experiences a different sound colour than many listeners are accustomed to. 

The work on preparing the concert scores lasted over a year at the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, and the first version was presented to the musicians of the Warsaw Philharmonic in February 2025 and was used during the National Chopin Competition. The editors made the final corrections in consultation with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

The result is material that, on the one hand, restores the scores to a form closest to the original editions from Fryderyk Chopin’s lifetime, and on the other, adapts them to the needs of contemporary performers. Therefore, when asked who composed the orchestration currently presented, the answer is Fryderyk Chopin.