German pianist Markus Groh is on a tour of north-western Poland, travelling in a horse-drawn carriage and… a piano.

After last night’s concert in the Pomeranian Dukes Castle in  Szczecin, he will perform in Moryń and Cedynia, close to the Polish-German border. He had earlier given concerts in Temnitztal and Prenzlau, on the German side of the frontier.

The tour, which marks the bicentenary of the birth of Fryderyk Chopin and Robert Schumann, is also a sentimental journey into the past and a reenactment of the two composers’ artistic trips around Europe. The instrument which Marcus Groh has taken with him is a replica of a piano dating from the middle of the 19th century.

Forty year-old Markus Groh is the winner of the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. He has developed a fine career in the United States, regularly appearing with the symphony orchestras in Colorado, Detroit, Fort Worth, Jacksonville, Kansas, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle. In Europe he has performed with the Bamberger Symphoniker, Bournemouth Symphony, Hague Residentie Orkest, the London Symphony and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

The pianist is the founder and music director of the  Bebersee Festival near Berlin. (mk)