Paweł Wakarecy, the only Pole in the finals of this year’s Chopin International Piano Competition, is billed in Tokyo today and in Fukuoka on Monday.

The two towns maintain friendly ties with the Kujawy and Pomerania Region in northern Poland, where Wakarecy was born (Toruń) and where he currently studies (Bydgoszcz).

Twenty three year-old Wakarecy received an honourable mention at the Chopin Competition. He is the student of Professor Katarzyna Popowa Zydroń, whose past students include Rafał Blechacz, the winner of the Warsaw event five years ago. (mk)