The National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra opens an artistic tour on board the sailing frigate Dar Młodzieży with tonight’s concert in Copenhagen.

It will also perform in the ports of Goeteborg (Thursday), Oslo (11 September), Dover (16 September) and Boulogne-sur-Mer (17 September).

The programme includes the music of Chopin (Fantasy on Polish Airs, Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise in E flat minor and Rondo à la Krakowiak),  Debussy’s La Mer (The Sea), works by Carl Nielsen, Edvard Grieg, Benjamin Britten and – in Goeteborg – a piece by the Polish composer Roman Maciejewski, who spent the last 15 years of his life in that town.

The orchestra’s Music Director Jacek Kaspszyk will conduct all the concerts  and Ewa Kupiec will be the soloist.

The voyage is one of the events marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Chopin and its last stage refers to Chopin’s historic journey from France to England in 1848. He sailed from Boulogne-sur-Mer to Folkstone, from where he took a train to London. He spent seven months in England, from 20 April to 23 November, giving lessons and concerts in public venues and aristocratic salons. 

A plaque commemorating Chopin’s first London concert, on 23 June 1848, is placed on the front wall of the house at  99 Eaton Place.

On 1 October, the National Polish Radio SO inaugurates its new artistic season in Katowice, its home since 1947.  (mk)