Saturday evening
23 December
2023
2023
at 8:00 PM
WAALSE KERK AMSTERDAM
WAALSE KERK AMSTERDAM
PLEASE NOTE: The concert for next December 23 will not take place in the Zuiderkerk but in the Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam (350m walk, 5min).
Nicolas van Poucke – piano
“Hats off, gentlemen, a genius.”
-Robert Schumann
(review in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, Germany upon hearing Chopin's music for the first time.)
The quintessential Chopin in all dimensions and performed by a master pianist! The internationally acclaimed pianist Nicolas van Poucke presents a special program, entirely devoted to one of his favorite composers.
Fryderyk Chopin, born in Poland, was a virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era and is regarded as one of the greatest composers in music history. Chopin was the musical poet par excellence. At the age of twenty he was on a tour abroad when the Polish uprising against the Russian occupiers took place. He could not return to his native country and left for Paris. To avoid being dependent on documents from the Russian Empire, he became a French citizen and changed his first name to Frédéric.
The Parisian high-society salons were a meeting point for many artists and in the aristocratic circles in which Chopin moved, he was admired for his piano playing and for his didactic gifts. He played as he spoke: softly. Chopin disliked giving public concerts and thus hardly even performed. In Paris Chopin gave only 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon, but he was a living legend nonetheless. Chopin's heart and soul were indelibly connected to his homeland, but he never returned. According to some, the loneliness and homesickness for his birth country can always be felt in his music.
Chopin's compositions are technically very demanding. Subtle nuances, expressive deep layers of refinement and sound poetry characterize his style. Nicolas van Poucke has a special affinity for the pianist-composer-tone poets from bygone times. “A true poetic musician,” the Dutch newspaper
De Volkskrant wrote about Nicolas.
Nicolas van Poucke – piano
“Hats off, gentlemen, a genius.”
-Robert Schumann
(review in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, Germany upon hearing Chopin's music for the first time.)
The quintessential Chopin in all dimensions and performed by a master pianist! The internationally acclaimed pianist Nicolas van Poucke presents a special program, entirely devoted to one of his favorite composers.
Fryderyk Chopin, born in Poland, was a virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era and is regarded as one of the greatest composers in music history. Chopin was the musical poet par excellence. At the age of twenty he was on a tour abroad when the Polish uprising against the Russian occupiers took place. He could not return to his native country and left for Paris. To avoid being dependent on documents from the Russian Empire, he became a French citizen and changed his first name to Frédéric.
The Parisian high-society salons were a meeting point for many artists and in the aristocratic circles in which Chopin moved, he was admired for his piano playing and for his didactic gifts. He played as he spoke: softly. Chopin disliked giving public concerts and thus hardly even performed. In Paris Chopin gave only 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon, but he was a living legend nonetheless. Chopin's heart and soul were indelibly connected to his homeland, but he never returned. According to some, the loneliness and homesickness for his birth country can always be felt in his music.
Chopin's compositions are technically very demanding. Subtle nuances, expressive deep layers of refinement and sound poetry characterize his style. Nicolas van Poucke has a special affinity for the pianist-composer-tone poets from bygone times. “A true poetic musician,” the Dutch newspaper
De Volkskrant wrote about Nicolas.
Chopin's Poetic Genius
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Polonaises, Opus 26 No. 1 & No. 2
Four Impromptus;
Opus 29, 36, 51, and 66
Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Opus 54
– Intermission –
Four Mazurkas, Opus 33
Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Opus 58
