The composer’s music will be present at the festival owing to the multimedia installations prepared by Polish artists: Jarosław Kapuściński's “Gdzie jest Chopin” (Where is Chopin?) in Warsaw’s Studio Tęcza, Paweł Janicki’s “Mapping Chopin” and Józef Robakowski’s “Attention: Light! 2.0”, along with the spectacular installation set in Warsaw’s Old Town by Canada’s Gordon Monahan, called “Chopin Chord” (September 17th-23rd). The installations attempt to translate Chopin motifs into the language of contemporary art and digital media. 

“Gdzie jest Chopin?” (Where is Chopin?) by Jarosław Kapiściński explores the connections between the author’s personal understanding of the Chopin’s cycle of 24 Preludes Op. 28 and the expressions the compositions bring to listeners’ faces. Developing the project, Kapuściński gave special concerts in 12 cities, where Chopin is greatly admired, but which he personally had not visited before: Tokyo, San Francisco, Wellington, Sydney, Seoul, Beijing, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Helsinki, Buenos Aires, Santiago and Mexico City. While he played, the emotions and reactions of the audience were recorded on camera and photographed. The project was commissioned by Warsaw Autumn, WRO Art Centre and Stanford University to mark the Chopin Year. 

Paweł Janicki’s “Mapping Chopin” combines the visual and the sound to interact with the viewer. It uses specially devised software enhanced with a movement detection system to generate variations on digitalised scores of Chopin’s compositions depending on the dynamics of the viewers’ behaviour. The installation’s space may contain one or multiple viewers at the same time, as it constantly adjusts itself to match the number and nature of the stimuli received. 

“Various musical parameters of the works - the dynamic range, tempo, articulation, etc. - are associated with data provided by the motion-detection system, so that people within the installation space can, through their own activity, generate phrases and longer passages. The data from the motion-detection system is also mapped onto the vertical and horizontal axes of the musical score, creating a graphic allusion to the physical installation space as well as to the keyboard projected in it, highlighting the sequencing of the notes in the compositions, the way they are linked to the space and to the movements of the audience/participants,” explain the organisers.  

Janicki's installation uses Chopin's Etude in A flat major Op. 25 No. 1, Valse Brillante in A Minor Op. 34 No. 2, Tarantella in A flat major Op. 43 and Nocturne in G minor Op. 15 No. 3.

The third project called "Attention: Light!" by Józef Robakowski is audiovisual installation for Disklavier and multiscreen projection, following from the author’s inspiration with Fryderyk Chopin’s mazurkas. 

Gordon Monahan’s urban project “Chopin Chord” features six strings hanging down from the tower of Warsaw’s Royal Castle to a piano standing at the foot of the building. Special vibrating spirals will be transmitting recorded sound sequences from Chopin’s works to the strings, causing them to quiver. The vibrations will subsequently become stronger having contacted the piano’s soundboard and finally will be played out acoustically. 

The piano’s special presence at the festival will be highlighted during the opening concert,  featuring the world premiere of Zygmunt Krauze’s Listy (Letters) for four pianos with orchestra and Louis Andriessen’s composition Haags Hakkuh for piano duo with the accompaniment from the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Warsaw Autumn’s rich tradition dates back to 1956, when it was established by the Polish Composers’ Union. For many years to follow, it was the only event held behind the Iron Curtain to offer the audience a chance to encounter contemporary music composed in the West. To date, the event remains the biggest festival of contemporary music in this part of Europe. 

Visit the festival’s official website www.warszawska-jesien.art.pl to see the prpgramme.