A month before the Chopin Competition began in October 2025, we bought tickets to the Szczecin Philharmonic for a concert by one of the competition's winners.
We eagerly awaited news of which winner would perform at our concert.
And it happened!
During the symphony concert on November 14, 2025, Kevin Chen, winner of the Second Prize in the 19th Chopin Competition, performed with the Mieczysław Karłowicz Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Przemysław Neumann.
The director of our Philharmonic and the conductor of today's concert announced this extraordinary concert as part of our tradition of exclusively presenting Polish music during the All Saints' Day period.
The concert began with the overture to the opera "Jagiełło in Tenczyn" by Józef Elsner, a composer known primarily as the teacher and mentor of the young Fryderyk Chopin. He was the first to recognize the young Chopin as a genius of music and piano. In this overture, we heard a Mozart theme and a krakowiak melody…
The second performance was the Suite in E-flat major, Op. 9 by Zygmunt Stojowski, a composer who almost became Minister of Culture in Ignacy Paderewski's government (as Neumann recalled in his introduction).
In the most important part of the concert, we heard a beautiful rendition of Fryderyk Chopin's Concerto in E minor, performed by Kevin Chen.
"Kevin Chen, who sat down at the piano after the intermission, already has many awards to his name. He has won prestigious competitions in Tel Aviv, Geneva, and Budapest, and his performances in venues such as Carnegie Hall and St John's Smith Square in London have been highly praised by critics. This year, he participated in the Chopin Competition for the first time and was considered a favorite by many experts (he ultimately placed second)."
Chen's performance was exciting and engaging, although many in the audience responded enthusiastically to the piece played as an encore. It was the Etude in G-flat major.
We concluded our stay at the Philharmonic with dinner at a Nepalese restaurant.
In March 2025, another laureate of the 19th Chopin Competition, Tianyao Liu, will perform at the Szczecin Philharmonic. She's 17 years old!
We invite you to join us.
