PERFORMANCES SCHEDULE

Pianist Barbara Nissman returns to Carnegie Hall to present a third season of Carnegie Classics, a three- part concert series designed to introduce classical music to new audiences, as well as inspiring and entertaining all music enthusiasts.

 

Hosted by Steinway “legend” and recent 2023 West Virginia Music Hall of Fame inductee, Nissman invites the listener to travel with her to explore the composers’ world. She makes listening easy and  music meaningful, and she shares her joy and passion for her composer “friends” and their great music with all of us. No education is required— just a set of ears to listen and an open heart to receive the joys of music!

 

The final Classics Series concert, Chopin, the Beautiful!, includes a performance of the Second Piano Concerto that Chopin arranged for piano and string quintet so he could play it himself in the elegant salons of his Parisian patrons. Barbara will be joined by five West Virginian musician friends for that special performance and will also share with us some scenes from Chopin’s life and music.

 

“What a joy for me to return for another season of great music performed on the beautiful Steinway at our wonderful Carnegie Hall! With this series we are expanding the audience for classical music, and it is so gratifying for me to share with my community the music that I love so much. We all need more joy in our lives these days, and music has the power to transport us into a magical world.” - Barbara Nissman

​

Frédéric François Chopin (1810 – 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era, one whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation".

​

Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola and grew up in Warsaw, which in 1815 became part of Congress Poland. A child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed his earlier works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising. At 21, he settled in Paris. Thereafter he gave only 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and by giving piano lessons, for which he was in high demand. Chopin formed a friendship with Franz Liszt and was admired by many of his musical contemporaries, including Robert Schumann. After a failed engagement to Maria Wodzińska from 1836 to 1837, he maintained an often troubled relationship with the French writer Aurore Dupin (known by her pen name George Sand). A brief and unhappy visit to Mallorca with Sand in 1838–39 would prove one of his most productive periods of composition. In his final years, he was supported financially by his admirer Jane Stirling. For most of his life, Chopin was in poor health. He died in Paris in 1849 at the age of 39.

​

All of Chopin's compositions feature the piano. Most are for solo piano, though he also wrote two piano concertos, some chamber music, and 19 songs set to Polish lyrics. His piano pieces are technically demanding and expanded the limits of the instrument; his own performances were noted for their nuance and sensitivity. Chopin's major piano works include mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, polonaises, the instrumental ballade (which Chopin created as an instrumental genre), études, impromptus, scherzi, preludes, and sonatas, some published only posthumously. Among the influences on his style of composition were Polish folk music, the classical tradition of Mozart and Schubert, and the atmosphere of the Paris salons, of which he was a frequent guest. His innovations in style, harmony, and musical form, and his association of music with nationalism, were influential throughout and after the late Romantic period.

​

Chopin's music, his status as one of music's earliest celebrities, his indirect association with political insurrection, his high-profile love life, and his early death have made him a leading symbol of the Romantic era. His works remain popular, and he has been the subject of numerous films and biographies of varying historical fidelity. Among his many memorials is the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, which was created by the Parliament of Poland to research and promote his life and works. It hosts the International Chopin Piano Competition, a prestigious competition devoted entirely to his works.