The chance to hear instruments from Chopin's time alongside modern pianos at Third Chopin Festival Hamburg

Hubert Rutkowski, artistic director of the Chopin Festival Hamburg,
with the 1847 Pleyel piano being used at the festival

The Third Chopin Festival Hamburg is taking place from 11 to 13 June 2021, and for the first time the festival will be live-streamed which means that all five concerts can be seen anywhere in the world, free of charge. The festival places its artistic focus not just on Chopin but on on the comparison of the sound worlds of modern and historical keyboard instruments. 

This year's festival comes from the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg and the museum has provided the historic instruments used in the festival. This means that alongside modern pianos we get to hear two pianos from Chopin's time, an 1880 Érard, and an 1847 Pleyel plus a 1728 Zell harpsichord. The second concert will offer a direct comparison of the sound worlds of a historic and a modern grand piano, with pianist Mari Kodama performing works by Chopin, Ravel, and Dutilleux on the Érard and a 2019 Shigeru Kawai. 

The concert venues in the museum will include the striking Hall of Mirrors, created in 1909 for a luxurious villa build by Henry and Emma Budge and installed in the museum in 1987. [The room has a complex and significant history, and there is a fascinating article at the Jewish History Online website]

Performers at the festival include Hubert Rutkowski, the festival's artistic director, who will be giving a piano duo recital with Severin von Eckardstein, Mari Kodama, Tomasz Ritter, Menno van Delft and Stepan Simonian. Repertoire will include Chopin, of course, alongside the music of predecessors, contemporarys and successors right through to Ravel and Dutilleux.

Full details from the Chopin Festival website.