Thousands of concerts will take place around the world this year in honour of the bicentenary of Frédéric Chopin's birth. Poland has declared 2010 'The Year of Chopin', and event listings in Warsaw alone extend to twenty-five pages! Here in the UK the Chopin Society will reproduce his 1848 London recital schedule, with the same dates, programmes, instruments and venues. Highlights include Nikolai Demidenko and Steven Isserlis at Lancaster House (May 15th), Ian Hobson at The Athenaeum (June 6th), Peter Donohoe at the Naval & Military Club (July 7th) and a concert and ball at London's Guildhall in honour of Chopin's last public performance (November 18th).

Other notable concerts include the Southbank Centre's International Piano Series 2009-10, where the composer's two disputed birthdates will be marked by Krystian Zimerman (February 2nd) and Maurizio Pollini (March 1st). Kings Place, meanwhile, will host Chopin Unwrapped, with three weeks of concerts featuring the complete works for solo piano during February, March and June. Elsewhere in London, Artur Pizarro will single-handedly perform the same feat in a series of nine recitals at St. John's, Smith Square between February and December (and local readers might be interested to know that Martino Tirimo will be doing the same at Holy Trinity Church, Hereford).

BBC Radio 3 will mark the anniversary with a wide array of programmes. Those that have particularly caught my eye include five episodes of The Essay (March 1st-5th), with Piers Lane exploring five different aspects of Chopin's life and music, and Discovering Music (March 21st), with Stephen Johnson and Llyr Williams discussing the background to the Op. 28 Préludes. Breakfast will feature a daily selection of mazurkas in the week beginning March 15th, and Performance on 3 (March 25th) will present an all-Chopin recital by Maurizio Pollini. There will also be a repeat of Chopin as Composer of the Week (March 1st-5th), with Donald Macleod exploring the composer's later works.

UPDATE:

The City of Warsaw has produced a beautiful film about Chopin's early years in the city. You can see where the young composer lived, and hear details of his family, friends, personality and musical progress. It lasts approximately thirty minutes, and is available to view here.