We are celebrating Fryderyk Chopin’s 216th birthday!

This year, we will be celebrating Fryderyk Chopin’s 216th birthday for several days – with four concerts, film shows, and, for the youngest, theatre performances and art workshops.

The first highlight is Jan Lisiecki’s concert at the Warsaw Philharmonic on February 26th at 7:30 p.m. The young virtuoso has planned a recital with veritable musical fireworks – his program, entitled ‘World (Of) Dance,’ consists entirely of dance compositions from the 19th and 20th centuries and includes hits such as Bohuslav Martinů’s Czech dances, Manuel de Falla’s Spanish dances, Chopin’s and Brahms’s waltzes, and Ginastera’s and Piazzolla’s tangos.

On February 28th, a special show of the film ‘Chopin, Chopin!’ will take place in the cinema hall in the modern building complex surrounding Fryderyk Chopin’s Birthplace in Żelazowa Wola. Directed by Michał Kwieciński and starring Eryk Kulm, the film received eight nominations for the most important Polish film award, ‘Orły,’ including nominations for Best Actor, Best Set Design, Costume Design, Makeup Design, and Sound.

The birthday celebrations will be centred on March 1st. Starting at 10 a.m., Żelazowa Wola will host art workshops for both children and adults (you will be able to make a birthday card for Fryderyk and paint watercolour flowers for him). Shows of animated films about Fryderyk and a theatrical performance ‘Frycka muzyczne początki,’ are also planned.

At noon, Mateusz Dubiel, winner of the National Fryderyk Piano Competition and one of the audience favourites of the 2025 Chopin Competition, will perform a traditional recital at the Fryderyk Chopin’s Birthplace. After the meeting with the artist, guests will be able to enjoy birthday cake, and the culmination of the Żelazowa Wola events will be a concert by Andrzej Jagodziński Trio (6:00 p.m.).

The peak of the celebrations will be a concert at the Warsaw Philharmonic – Eric Lu will perform at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the 19th Chopin Competition, celebrated in recent months by audiences from around the world during an international tour, will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the AUKSO Orchestra under the baton of Marek Moś and three Chopin works: Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 1, Polonaise in B-flat major, Op. 71, No. 2, and Sonata in B minor, Op. 58.

 

A detailed schedule of Chopin’s birthday celebrations in Żelazowa Wola can be found here, and the program of Jan Lisiecki and Eric Lu’s concerts – here.