Former winner of the International Chopin Competition, Rafał Blechacz will be performing with Poland’s leading orchestra – the Sinfonia Varsovia at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris tomorrow night.

The gala concert is part of worldwide celebrations of the Chopin Year, the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Chopin’s Concerto in E minor will be performed by Blechacz, the winner of the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2005, with Jerzy Semkow on the conductor’s podium.

Eighty two year-old Semkow is one of the most eminent Polish conductors of his generation. The programme of the concert also includes Schubert’s Symphony No. 9.

The concert is co-financed by the Warsaw-based Adam Mickiewicz Institute. (mk)