Events

May 7th, 2017 Celebrations at The Chopin Garden Starting at 2:00pm

Ornate Performance Honors Polish Constitution after the Chicago Polish Constitution Parade

We will welcome the "early birds" arriving to Chopin Garden at 1:15 with a wonderful performance of immensely talented guitar soloist Radek Chwieralski who will charm the spectators with a 30 minute concern of his very own dynamic and unique interpretation of Chopin's music. He will also treat us with a rock version of the Polish and American anthem.

Radek is from Warsaw and played all over Europe and finally he is with us in The Chopin Garden.

Here is the clip from YouTube. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=OoasmoXQ6ec

Elaborate and authentic costumes, elegant dancers, and realistic period actors make for an entertaining, historic reenactment of the 1791 signing of the Polish Constitution. Up to a thousand onlookers are expected to attend the outdoor performance begining at 2:00 pm, in coordination with and following the Polish Constitution Day Parade, on Saturday May 7. The location is at the new Chopin Garden within Grant Park, off of Michigan Avenue at 11th street, not far from where the parade ends. A piano recital, also part of the event, will honor the namesake of the Chopin Garden.

The program is presented by Chicago Chopin Foundation and the Grant Park Conservancy.

The performers are with the song and dance ensemble “Polonia,” whose executive director is Anna Krysiski. The song, dance, and script, which evoke actual historic persons and events, are created and choreographed by Iwona Puc. The lively and colorful presentation is intended to entertain and inform both young and old, with renown master of ceremonies Zbyszek Banas assuring multi-lingual access for English and Polish speakers alike. The presenters especially hope that school-children, our cultural future, will attend the show, enjoy the fun, and be enriched by the learning experience.

As the parade winds down, attendees of the parade are invited to follow along and migrate over to the Chopin Garden. There they will find warm-up acts providing entertainment as the crowd gathers. When the main event begins, at 2:00 pm, the audience will experience the stormy events leading to first ever constitution for any European nation, the May 3 constitution of Poland. As the dramatic presentation concludes, the audience is invited to participate, with the costumed actors, in the elegant art and graceful steps of a Polonez dance.

The cultural climate is then extended by pianists playing a concert of Chopin music by the talented

Jana Pavlovska. To wrap it all up, there will be some rock-and-roll from the band Mastermind.

The Chopin Garden is a new location in Grant Park, and is the future location a prominent bronze statue of Chopin. The effort to build the statue is headed by Chicago Chopin Foundation. Those wishing to support the effort will have an opportunity to do so at the Constitution Day presentation: there will be raffle tickets for sale, and nick-knacks to purchase, with proceeds benefiting the Foundation.

From the parade’s end point to Chopin Garden (11th & Michigan Ave) is a short walk. Also, there is parking available on the street and in parking lots along State and Wabash; typically about $8 to $12. The event itself is available to the public at no charge.

For more info please contact: Wojciech (Voytek) Putz, Chicago Chopin Foundation

Tel: (708) 447-4807

Email: voytekputz@chopingarde

Konrad Binienda

Since his debut with The Cleveland Orchestra in 2007, Polish-American pianist Konrad Binienda has performed in recital and with orchestras throughout the United States and Europe, winning acclaim for his highly individual and probingly musical performances.

Mr. Binienda graduated from Harvard-NEC joint degree program with Bachelor of Arts from Harvard and Master of Music in Piano Performance from the New England Conservatory. Studying under the direction of Prof. Wha-Kyung Byun, he was a recipient of the NEC J. and R. Cartwright Endowed Scholarship in Piano. Throughout his career, he has studied with Sergei Babayan and Gerardo Teissonnière at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and with Phillipe Giusiano and Viktor Mierzhanov in Europe. Currently, he pursues a doctoral degree in piano performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the direction of Prof. HaeSun Paik.

Recipient of the 2011 Hastings Prize for Musical Performance at Harvard University and a laureate of the Chopin Piano Competition of the Kosciuszko Foundation, Peabody Mason International Piano Competition, Mr. Binienda is a recipient of numerous prestigious recognitions and awards. In 2011 he received the Hastings Prize for Musical Performance at Harvard University and subsequently served as Artist in Residence at Harvard University’s Phorzheimer House. Also, Mr. Binienda is a laureate of the 2010 Chopin Piano Competition sponsored by the Kościuszko Foundation in New York and the 2010 Peabody Mason International Piano Competition in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also the winner of the 2008 Mozart Society Orchestra’s Concerto competition at Harvard University and the Grand Prize Winner of 2007 Rising Stars Concerto Competition sponsored by the Messiah College and Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. Over the years, he appeared as a soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony and Akron Symphony.

Mr. Binienda is also an accomplished composer. In May 2011 he performed his own piano concerto in E minor with the Pfoho Orchestra at Harvard University. His arrangement of Simple Gifts for piano trio was chosen as a finalist for the National Association of Music Educators’ 2007 Showcase. In December of 2006, he performed the first movement of this Piano Concerto with the Akron Symphony Orchestra. He also won First Prize in the 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005 editions of the Ohio Scholastic Composers Contests.