Pianist Trzaskowski Joins CHOPIN-AN IMPRESSION, Through 11/7

Krzysztof Trzaskowski, one of Poland's leading emerging pianists, takes over the piano this week in "Chopin-An Impression" by The Bialystok Puppet Theatre.  This virtuoso performance of Chopin's music by a virtuoso puppet troupe plays through November 7, performed by its original company and presented by La Mama E.T.C. in association with The Polish Cultural Institute in New York.  It is part of "La MaMa Puppet Series IV-Built to Perform," a festival dedicated to puppet artists from all over the world. 
 
Krzysztof Trzaskowski (b. 1987), a native of Bialystok and graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, has performed widely in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. Trzaskowski advanced to the Second Stage of the the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2005, winning the prize of the Chopin Society of Geneva in that year.  He was the youngest pianist from the European Union and Switzerland to reach this stage in the competition. 
 
From October 21 to 31, Karina Komendera was featured at the piano.
 
The play, an American premiere, is a theatrical reflection on the life and work of the world's greatest composer for the piano, performed in perfect synchrony by prominent pianists from Poland and by marionettes representing the composer and historical figures who surrounded him.  The pianist marionette measures about a foot tall and seems to master the keyboard with the agility and genius of Chopin.  The famed composer's unique, light-handed keyboard technique is actually captured, artistically, by a wooden puppet on strings.  In preparation for this feat, the puppeteers trained for weeks watching a pianist's hands. The play takes the audience into Chopin's world through a series of Muses, played by five actress-puppeteers, who serve as guides through the worlds of dreams and sounds produced by his music.  With narration that would be described as economical, even minimalist, and with silent manipulation of the marionette cast accompanied by selections from Chopin's works, they enact his artistic friendships, musical impressions, and life experiences.  These include his fascination with Paganini, his friendships and relationships with George Sand and with his fiancee Maria Wodzinska, his longings for the lost "country of his childhood," his creative dilemmas, artistic visions, and moods that ranged from the joy of success to the pain of despair, from the poetic to the paranoid.
 
"Chopin-An Impression" was originally commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the worldwide celebration of The Year of Chopin 2010, celebrating the bicentennial of the composer's birth in Zelazowa Wola, Poland.  Created by The Bialystok Puppet Theatre, one of the preeminent puppet ensembles in Europe, the piece debuted March 7, 2010 in the Polish city that bears its name. The American premiere opened here October 21.  It plays through November 7, 2010 at La Mama E.T.C. (Ellen Stewart Theater at The Annex), 66 East Fourth Street (East Village).  Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2:30. Tickets are $25. For further info and ticketing to all events of this festival, visit www.lamama.org. Discount tickets are available to members of nypuppets.org; membership is free.