With music by Fryderyk Chopin and text by Wojciech Szelachowski, the piece is a theatrical reflection on the life and work of the world's greatest composer for the piano, performed in perfect synchrony with selections from Chopin's works and by marionettes representing the composer and the historical figures who surrounded him.
The minimal English narration and silent manipulation of the marionette cast enact Chopin's artistic friendships, musical impressions, and life experiences. Every detail has been
worked out. The puppet's fingers move precisely in the rhythm of the mazurkas, nocturnes and waltzes as played by Polish virtuoso pianist Krzysztof Trzaskowski. The Bialystok Puppet Theatre is one of the leading puppet theaters in Europe and one of the oldest Polish theater companies to cultivate a puppet repertoire for adults. Since 1972, it has regularly produced works by such authors as Boccaccio, Calderon, Rostand, Gogol, Bernhard, Rozewicz, and Mrozek.Chopin-An Impression was originally commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the worldwide celebration of The Year of Chopin 2010, celebrating the bicentennial of the composer's birth in Żelazowa Wola, Poland. In New York the play will be presented as a part of the The La MaMa Puppet Series IV--Built to Perform, an annual event that carries on La MaMa's long standing tradition of supporting puppet theater artists from all over the world.For schedule and ticket information: www.polishculture-nyc.org or http://lamama.org.
