19th Chopin Competition
My musical taste has been developing for many years and this process is probably not yet complete. At first, I listened to popular music – what all teenagers usually listen to at that age. Later, I discovered hip hop and rap, also thanks to my school friends. How did it happen that one day I started listening to classical music? I don’t remember exactly, but I think it had something to do with the New Year’s Concert at the Vienna Philharmonic, which I had the opportunity to watch on television.
It fascinated me. Everything seemed different there. Beautiful, dignified, refined, well thought out. Every detail. Every nuance. Every sound. It was extraordinary.
However, soon after the concert, I forgot about it and returned to my daily duties. At some point, though, I found a fragment of the recording and started looking for more pieces. That was the beginning of a period when classical music began to absorb me.
This was partly due to my curiosity and partly due to my boredom with popular music, in which – as I began to perceive it – everyone sings about the same thing, i.e. nothing, and the songs consist of increasingly absurd lyrics.
In 2015, quite by accident, I came across a broadcast of the Chopin Competition. That was it. Not only was I already a fan of Frereric Chopin’s music, but I was also able to listen to performances by young artists every day for three weeks.
At that time, I was just getting to know this concert. I didn’t know exactly what it was all about. I promised myself that I would familiarise myself with it more and that during the next edition, I would be a more knowledgeable viewer and listener.
I know that even today I am not a fully aware listener, and that will probably never change. This is a concert of outstanding artists judged by outstanding jurors. And my knowledge of classical music, although it has improved over the years, is still far from satisfactory.
But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the performances of artists from all over the world. From listening to Chopin and marvelling at his genius. At the beautiful sounds he composed.
And I always eagerly await the next Chopin Competition. The 19th edition is currently underway. You can listen to it on Polish Radio and watch it on the YouTube channel of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute click here.
I encourage you to do so even if you are not interested in classical music. I wasn’t interested in it either. Now I try to go to piano and violin concerts, I listen to it practically every week, and I look forward to the Chopin Competition like no other event throughout the year.