The Polish Cultural Center invites you to the musical lecture “Chopin: Mortal Man, Immortal Genius” by Steven Lagerberg. This is an evening presenting a lecture on life of Frederic Chopin illustrated with his compositions performed by outstanding young pianists from the Pacific Northwest. The narrative will discuss stories behind some of the works and how Chopin’s passions and patriotism as well as his chronic illness inspired and affected his compositions.
The following young pianists will play in the program: Arabelle Grote and Nicholas Grote are both gold medalists of the 2023 Northwest Chopin Piano Competition in Seattle, they are students of Ni Liu & Peter Mack; Colin Sica and Travis Lee are award winning pianists attending the Chopin Academy of Music in Issaquah, Travis Lee as a student of Ivona Kaminska-Bowlby and Colin Sica of Christopher Bowlby.
The program includes the following Chopin’s compositions:
- Berceuse in D flat Major, Op. 57, by Arabelle Grote
- Trois Nouvelle Études, Nos. 1 & 3, by Arabelle Grote
- Étude in C sharp Major, Op. 10 #4, by Nicholas Grote
- Nocturne in F sharp Major, Op. 15 #2, by Nicholas Grote
- Ballade in A flat Major, Op. 47, by Travis Lee
- Polonaise in A flat Major, Op. 53, by Colin Sica
Dr. Steven Lagerberg is a retired physician and medical administrator with a great passion for Chopin and his music. He is the founder of the Chopin Foundation Pacific Northwest Chapter and its former long-time president. In this capacity, he organized several concerts with the best Polish pianists, including Krystian Zimerman and Krzysztof Jabłoński, both at Benaroya and at the Polish Hall.
Dr. Lagerberg is also a recognized Chopin scholar who helped discover the cause of Chopin’s illness and subsequent death. In 2011, he published a story of his investigations in “Chopin’s Heart: The Quest to Identify the Mysterious Illness of the World’s Most Beloved Composer”. In 2014, his persistent efforts to bring to light a jar with Chopin’s heart entombed in a pillar of the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw were brought to fruition and his diagnosis of the composer’s illness was confirmed. He is also the author of “Essays on Chopin”, published in 2017; both books are available on Amazon.
This event is sponsored by the Consulate General of Poland in Los Angeles.
Tickets at $15 are available at EventBrite here.