The Chopin Society
Registered Charity No 271562

Prizes
The Chopin Society has twice awarded a prize for the best Chopin performance in the London International Piano Competition. In 1994, it went to Eugene Mursky and in 1997 to Cristiano Burato.

Fund-raising
In the past ten years the Chopin Society has raised more than £50,000 for various causes. In 1991, we held a gala concert at Lambeth Palace, residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to raise money for the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building at Oxford.

AT THE GUILDHALL GALA: Lady Rose Cholmondeley (president of the Chopin Society) with Sir Nicolas Fenn (Marie Curie Cancer Care), Sir Bernard Lovell (the Society's patron) and HRH Princess Alexandra.

In 1993, there were two events to raise money for the restoration of the Broadwood piano used by Chopin for his London concerts in 1848: we held a Chopin festival at Hatchlands Park, as part of the Guildford International Music Festival, using period instruments from the Cobbe collection, and a gala concert at the House of Commons.

In 1998, our Royal gala at the Guildhall in London raised money for our piano appeal and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

A Wigmore Hall concert also in 1998 raised money for the Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability, and a Midsummer Concert in 1999 contributed funds to the Polish Institute.

Piano appeal
As a result of our piano appeal, the Society was given a magnificent model B Steinway grand by the Barbara Piasecka Johnson Foundation of the United States. This piano had been chosen by the famous Polish pianist, Witold Malcuzynski, and played by him in the last years of his life. It was expertly restored by Bob Glazebrook and inaugurated at a Society champagne gala in November 1999. The arrival of this superb instrument has enabled us to engage pianists of the highest quality and opened a new chapter in the history of the Chopin Society.

Anniversary of Chopin's visit

AT THE GUILDHALL GALA: HRH Princess Alexandra talks to Mrs Lucie Swiatek (92), founder of the Chopin Society (London).

To commemorate Chopin's visit to Britain in 1848 (for details, see Rose Cholmondeley's article), the Society held 25 concerts at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh as part of the Festival Fringe and two more at Hatchlands Park on the newly restored Broadwood piano. Chopin's last public performance was given at the Guildhall in the City of London in November 1848. Our Royal Gala at the Guildhall in November 1998 celebrated that event with a recital by Nikolai Demidenko in the presence of HRH Princess Alexandra.

Anniversary of Chopin's death
In 1999, one hundred and fifty years after Chopin's death, there was a Chopin 150 Festival on the South Bank in London and the Society sponsored talks given by Chopin experts from all over the world. In addition we mounted a Chopin exhibition with the Polish Philatelic Society at the Polish Institute, where we also launched our first International Celebrity Recital series. In a ceremony at the Polish Embassy, our President, Rose Cholmondeley, was awarded the Knights Cross of the Order of Merit for her work with the Chopin Society.

For more information about these activities or the Chopin Society's monthly recitals, please contact us.

The Chopin Society is grateful for awards, grants and sponsorship received from the British government, Kensington and Chelsea Arts Council and the Sunley Turriff Group.