The Chopin Society
Registered Charity No 271562

The early days
Mrs. Swiatek became the Secretary, a post she held until 1989. The first President was Maurice Jacobson OBE (composer and famous music festival adjudicator). Other members of the Committee were violinist Daisy Kennedy (formerly Mrs. Benno Moiseiwitsch), Baroness Eirene White, and the pianist Joyce Hatto. The first concerts were held at More House in the Cromwell Road, West London. Other venues included the Polish Institute, Leighton House, and 99 Eaton Place, where Chopin performed in 1848.

Later the Society was to move permanently to the Polish Institute & Sikorski Museum in South Kensington, together with a piano - which had belonged to the great Russian virtuoso Benno Moiseiwitsch - kindly loaned by his daughter Tanya. From the start Lucie Swiatek showed unerring judgement in her choice of artists, with pianists such as Philip Fowke, Howard Shelley, Ian Hobson and Mitsuko Uchida all performing in the early days. Talks were given by Daisy Kennedy, Adam Harasowski (the noted Chopin scholar), and Krystina Kobylanska (cataloguer of Chopin's works).

1978 anniversary
In 1978, the Society joined the Anglo-Polish Society and the Byron Society to hold a concert at Guildhall in London to celebrate the one hundred and thirtieth anniversary of Chopin's last concert (which he gave there in 1848 less than a year before he died), and to present the Guildhall with a bust of Chopin by Alfer.

The 1980s
Amongst the artists who played for the Society in the 1980s were Peter Frankl, Barry Douglas, and Louis Kentner, who was to become President until his death in 1987. He was succeeded by the eminent astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell, who is now the Patron. Rose Cholmondeley became Chairman in 1985 and Artistic Director in 1991. She is now President of the Society.

Find out about the Society's recent activities or, if you are interested in Chopin, contact us for any information you need.