Ursula Hyzy

Japanese students Aya Gokita and Yuka Sato practice in the corridor of Warsaw's Frederick Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Young Asian musicians are increasingly choosing to perfect their skills in Poland, the native land of renowned 19th century romantic composer Frederic Chopin. (Photo: Janek Skarzynski, AFP)

Asian Musicians Drawn To Chopin’s Homeland

Young Asian musicians are increasingly choosing to perfect their skills in Poland, the native land of renowned 19th century romantic composer Frederic Chopin, who is adored in the region.

“I love Chopin’s music. I feel it is so beautiful and so nostalgic — it’s very pure and passionate and so I like to live in Warsaw, in Poland,” says Aya Gokita, 27, a Japanese piano student.

She is one of some 40 Japanese and Koreans studying at Warsaw’s Fryderyk Chopin University of Music.

South Korean music student Jeong Soojin, 22, agrees.

“In Korea, most important is technique. I think technique is important, but more important is my emotion,” says Jeong, who was also drawn to Poland by Chopin’s music.

The ex-communist country of 38 million, which joined the European Union in 2004, is set to celebrate the bicentennial of the Franco-Polish composer’s birth in 2010 with a year-long program of events.

Ewa Izykowska, a voice professor at the Chopin university, said Chopin struck a popular chord amid Asia’s structured societies.

Izykowska, who spent four years teaching vocal technique in South Korea, is the deputy director of a Polish-Korean music department created a decade ago by Warsaw’s Chopin academy and South Korea’s Keimyung University.

Students of the program focus on violin, piano, composition, voice and cello for three years in South Korea and two in Poland, with some deciding to stay longer for supplementary courses once they have pocketed their diploma.

While there is no such bilateral program with Japan, young Japanese musicians, primarily pianists, are keen to study at Chopin University.

Other Polish music schools are also developing contacts with Asia.

Music academies in the Baltic Sea port of Gdansk and central industrial city of Lodz are preparing programs for students from China, where classical music is booming.

The music academy in the southern city of Krakow already hosts around 25 Chinese students, while some 16 are studying in the western city of Poznan.

“Many of them, pianists for example, want to come to Poland to feel, to breathe the atmosphere of the country where Chopin lived,” says Izykowska. “They feel they’re able to play his Mazurkas well here. And it really is quite the case!”

“It’s like going to New Orleans if you want to learn to play the blues or jazz,” she adds.

The fact that Poland is at a cultural crossroads between East and West also draws students from Asia, Izykowska says.

“We’ve suffered invasions, our country was partitioned, so we’ve always been subject to external influences. All of a sudden in the modern day this tradition has become a great asset,” Izykowska notes.

She is convinced the numbers of classical musicians from Asia can only grow.

“There will be more and more Asian classical musicians, due to their exceptional determination and their willingness to struggle — qualities that are indispensable for any artist,” she says.

“I think the future of classical music lies in Asia. It needs classical music... the love for classical music there is incredible, perhaps even greater than in Europe,” she says, explaining that what is old in Europe is still a novelty in the Far East and an acquaintance with the classics raises social prestige. 



Agence France-Presse

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