On an overcast, early fall day, pianist Hélène Tysman shared a sensitive, illuminating performance of piano works by Bach, Debussy, Chopin, and Ravel for this Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert broadcast. Watch the full program here!

Since there is a type of musical composition named for studying — études, for you non French-speakers — we have the perfect musical accompaniment while you hit the books.

Beneath the Tiffany Dome of the Chicago Cultural Center, 18-year-old pianist Kimberly Han performed works by Bach, Haydn, and Chopin.

Frédéric Chopin’s collection of 21 nocturnes might be the best-known example of the musical form, but did you know the inventor of the nocturne was an Irish composer named John Field?

WFMT listeners love to explore classical music destinations around the world. From September 22 to October 3, we enjoyed an Earthbound Expeditions trip filled with great concerts, great food, and great companionship throughout Poland and the Czech Republic.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The winner of the world’s 1st Chopin competition on historic pianos says the search for the original sound restores the appeal of classical music and helps artists understand the composer’s intentions. Tomasz Ritter of Poland was named the best of 30 young pianists at the 1st International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments this month. The 23-year-old …

The announcement by the 11-member international jury came after each of the six finalists played a Chopin concerto accompanied by the Amsterdam-based Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century with conductor Grzegorz Nowak.

Thirty pianists from the U.S., Japan, China, Russia, and across Europe will perform works by Chopin and other Polish composers of his time, as well as by Johan Sebastian Bach.

The summer festival’s 2018 season of concerts runs for 10 weeks from June 13 to August 18.

Whether you’re looking for spooky music as you wait for trick-or-treaters, or you need some music to accompany your own “danse macabre,” we have your perfect Halloween soundtrack.

Chopin wrote his Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2 in E-flat major between 1830 and 1832 and the piece was first published in 1833. The Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2 is one of the most popular of Chopin’s 21 nocturnes as evidenced by the number of arrangements made for other instruments. Karol Lipiński made the first arrangement during Chopin’s lifetime for …

Frédéric Chopin’s Étude Op. 10, No. 4 and Prelude Op. 28, No. 16 are notorious for being among the composer’s most challenging works to play. And when pianist Aldric Gozon learned these two pieces, he didn’t stop at getting the notes right – he played both blindfolded. Chopin wrote Étude Op. 10, No. 4 in 1830 as part of his …

Learn about some of Chopin’s signature compositions: his most important nocturnes.

Though Chopin did not compose many works for piano and orchestra — just six! — he kept them in his concert repertoire throughout his career.

When Frédéric Chopin composed his Fantaisie-Impromptu, he probably didn’t expect for the work to serve as the music for a breakdance duet. But at Arabesque 2014, an international ballet competition hosted by the Perm Ballet Opera Theatre, one entry in the “modern choreography” category used Fantaisie-Impromptu for just that purpose. Fantaisie-Impromptu was written in 1834, but it wasn’t published until …

The third movement of Frédéric Chopin’s Sonata No. 2 in B Flat Minor, Op. 35 – better known as his “Marche funèbre,” or funeral march – is one of the most iconic pieces of music ever written about death. Historians believe this somber movement was inspired, at least in part, by the November Uprising, a Polish rebellion against the Russian …

The Pregnant Buffalo Lounge, a subterranean space at the Chopin Theatre was home to the second WFMT Cabaret.

The majority of Chopin’s surviving works are for the piano. Surprisingly, however, the composer only left us with two piano concertos and a handful of other works for piano and orchestra. Polish-Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, who recorded Chopin: Works for Piano and Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon, reflected on these works and why Chopin didn’t write more of them. Expanding the …

Here are 10 albums from 2016 that stood out because of the incredible performances, the repertoire, the historical significance, or all of the above.

One of Russia’s greatest pianists, Vera Gornostaeva, was virtually unknown outside of her native country for most of her career. She taught at the Moscow Conservatory, earned the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, had a popular television program, Open Piano, and trained dozens of prize-winning pianists. Yet for most of her life, she was never permitted to …

In addition to an influential composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff was a fine conductor and magnificent pianist who enjoyed playing music by Liszt, Schubert, and Chopin.

If you love the music of Frédéric Chopin and are looking to expand your recording collection, here are a few albums you might want to consider. These 8 recordings feature 8 different pianists performing 8 different genres, giving you an appreciation for the diversity of Chopin’s works and the musicians who perform them.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker’s Marian Marzynski newest documentary is Do You Speak Chopin?. Marzynski’s love letter to Chopin is centered around the “Chopin Olympics” of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland.

A fourteen-time Grammy Award winner, Cuban-born saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera is revered in both the jazz and classical worlds.

Stanisław Moniuszko may not be a household name today, the composer is literally the face of Polish opera… a statue of him rests outside of the Warsaw Opera House.