While bicentenary homages to Poland's greatest composer have already been flooding in, the big tide that leads up to the birthday on 1 March starts this evening. Artur Pizarro, fresh from personable interpretations of concertos by Ravel and Richard Strauss, launches his Chopin cycle at St John's Smith Square. You are advised to pick and mix with the Kings Place festival, kicking off tomorrow with chamber works and continuing on Friday with the first of Martino Tirimo's recitals on Friday.
To make your options clearer, the Polish Cultural Institute has produced the snazzy little book Chopin 2010, which can be obtained free here on the PCI's website. Unfortunately the well-worn journalistic phrase "kill for a ticket" may already be true of Krystian Zimerman's Southbank recital on 22 February. Which is why the guide should be indispensible in directing you to such lower-key enticements as Piers Lane's candlelit journey through all the Nocturnes at St Paul's Covent Garden the previous evening. Make no mistake: you need to hear all Chopin's works this year, and they can certainly take any number of different interpreters.
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