KUWAIT CITY, March 21: The Chopin Year 2010 celebrations in Kuwait concluded with a blast Saturday night with the awarding ceremony of the 1st Gulf International Chopin Competition and a special Chopin piano recital by renowned pianist, Pawel Kowalski. The festivities began earlier this month with the 5th Kuwait International Chopin Competition followed by two gala concerts by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and solo pianists Philippe Guisiano and Krzysztof Jablonski.
The celebrations were organized by The Kuwait Chamber Philharmonia (KCP) under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Minister of Al-Diwan Al-Amiri Affairs. Cezary Owerkowicz, KCP Chairman, and his wife, Anna Owerkowicz, were also part of the competition’s jury panel.

Speaking on the occasion, Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah said that music is an international language which binds all people of the world and expresses them and that this competition is a testimony to the Kuwaiti people’s musical enthusiasm and appreciation of music and arts masters.
The Chopin Year 2010 festivities in Kuwait were sponsored by the Ministry of Cultural and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, the Embassy of Poland as well as Radisson Blu Hotel.
Two hundred talented young pianists from the GCC initially began competing for a position in Gulf International Competition that was held in Kuwait and 54 participants made it to the final two stages.
The participants, who are citizens and residents of Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar, competed in the 5th Kuwait International Chopin Competition, the 1st UAE International Chopin Competition, the 1st Bahrain International Chopin Competition and the 1st Qatar International Chopin Competition.
His Highness Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah attended the awarding ceremony and presented Sheikh Nasser Awards to 1st prize winners of the 2nd Group, Feixue Li and Faisal Ghazi Al-Bahairi.

All participants received certificates of participation. Divided into two groups based on the participants’ ages, the winners of the 1st Gulf International Chopin Competition are as follows:
Group 1: 1st prize - Wan Ru Thang; 2nd prize - Lulwa Al-Shamlan and Leo Foord - Kelcey; 3rd prize - Connie Yijia Zhang.
Chopin Prize by Ambassador to the Embassy of Poland in Kuwait, His Excellency Janusz Szwedo - Lulwa Al-Shamlan.
Youngest Participant Award - Hai Wei Li, Mizuho Shingai and Almaz Razif
Distinction Award - Frances Lewelling and Hai Wei Li.
Group 2: 1st prize - Feixue Li and Faisal Ghazi Al-Bahairi; 2nd prize - Charlez Fernandes, Patil Zakarian and Dalal Yassawi; 3rd prize - Dong Min Park and Hyuk Namkoong.
Chopin Prize by Ambassador to the Embassy of Poland in Kuwait, His Excellency Janusz Szwedo - Feixue Li and Faisal Ghazi Al-Bahairi.

Distinction Award - Fatima Hussain Al-Hashemi and Noor Al-Qassim.
Other Awards: Best International Team - the UAE (presented by Qatar Chopin Competition Director, Dimitri Torchinsky and jury member, Amira Fouad) - Ibrahim Al-Junaibi, Fatima Hussain Al-Hashemi, Saif Al-Jahary and Sarah Al-Khaabi.
Best female and male interpretation of Lizst (presented by the Hungarian Ambassador to Kuwait) - Patil Zakarian and Faisal Ghazi Al-Bahairi.
Best Bahraini Pianist - Noor Al-Qassim.
Best Emirati Male Pianist - Ibrahim Al-Junaibi.
Chopin Cup (Best Interpretation of Chopin (presented by Frederique Asfar) - Charles Fernandez.
Danuta Prize for Best Female Pianist (presented by Georg Dzierzon) - Lulwa Al-Shamlan and Dalal Yassawi.
Best Polish Performance of Chopin - Piotr Kownacki.
Appreciation Awards were presented to: Secretary General of the Jury and Committee - Patricia Whelan; Assistant - Franco Fernandez; Jury Members - Cezary Owerkowicz, Anna Owerkowicz, Hamad Al-Rashed, Sahar Mulhem, Kinga and Karol Masternak, Harriet Bushman, Sonja Park, Olga Aoust and Katerina Peers.

Chairperson of Union of French in Kuwait - Frederique Asfar
Pawel Kowalski was the main adjudicator of the 1st Gulf International Chopin Competition. The jury panel also included Dr Sahar Mulhem, who has contributed plenty to the development of music education in Kuwait; Harriet Bushman, who is a well known and highly appreciated composer, pianist, teacher and music festival organizer in the Gulf region; pianists Kinga and Karol Masternak; prize winner musician, Sonja Park; Chairman and UAE Chopin Competition Director, Katerina Peers; and director of 1st International Bahrain Chopin Competition, Professor Olga Aoust.
The special Chopin piano recital by Pawel Kowalski included compositions by Fryderyk Chopin, such as ‘Ballede in G Minor Op23’ and ‘Grande Polonaise in A flat Major Op53’, as well as compositions by Ignace Jan Paderewski such as ‘Nocturne in B flat Major Op16 No.4’.

Pawel Kowalski is one of Poland’s most versatile musicians. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, from which he graduated with honors in 1989 at the Vancouver Academy of Music on a personal grant from Witold Lutoslawski.
He played solo with the Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by Yehudi Menuhin at the orchestra’s anniversary concert in 1994 and has played piano concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Saint Saens, Ravel, Scriabin, Poulenc, Gershwin, Paderewski, Lutoslawski, Panufnik, Górecki, Kilar with celebrated orchestras around Europe.

Gala concerts
The gala concerts on March 17-18 by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and solo pianists Philippe Guisiano and Krzysztof Jablonski were a tremendous success with passionate applauses and standing ovations bestowed on the performers. The concert took place at the Al-Hashemi II Grand Ballroom in the Radisson Blu Hotel in celebration of the 200th year anniversary of renowned composer, Fryderyk Chopin.
In attendance were the Ambassador to the Embassy of Poland in Kuwait, His Excellency Janusz Szwedo, and the French and Hungarian Ambassadors among others as well as prominent individuals and music lovers of Kuwait.
Flowers honoring their contribution were presented to the former Polish Minister of Culture and the General and Program Director of the Orchestra, Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, and Vice-President of the World International Chopin Competition, Margarita Wisniewska.

The National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra is considered the leading Polish orchestra as it fulfils the role of cultural ambassador representing Poland in the international musical arena. The orchestra cooperates with some of the greatest composers of the 20th century, presenting the first ever performances of their works during concerts that included inaugurating Polish Days in Brussels, Dusseldorf, Vienna, Madrid, Roma, Kiev, Paris and London.
The Orchestra was founded in 1935 in Warsaw by world renowned conductor, Grzegorz Fitelberg, who led the team until the start of WWII in 1939.  Just after the end of the War, in March 1945, the Orchestra was revived by Witold Rowicki, soon to be one of the leading world conductors.

During the 75 years since its establishment the Orchestra was led by the greatest Polish and world class conductors and performed with top level soloists, composers and guest conductors such as L. Bernstein, M. Roztropovich, A. Rubinstein, W. Lutoslawski, P. Klecky, K. Penderecki, M. Pollini, M. Argerich, I. Stern, P. Domingo and many others.
The Orchestra recorded 198 CDs and has toured almost all European countries, North and South America as well as Japan, China, Korea, Australia among other countries.
Pianist Krzysztof Jablonski is a prize-winning Polish musician who won third prize at The F. Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1985. He performed in many prestigious concert halls with prominent chamber music ensembles in Europe, North and South America, Mexico, South Korea and Japan.

One artistic activity he considers very special was his performance of the Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 with Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus under the baton of Maestro Jerzy Semkow.
Philippe Guisiano is the second prize winner of the 13th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in 1995. He was also awarded at the Liszt Competition in Les Pennes Mirabeau in 1986 and the Concours de L’Orchestre Philharmonique des Pays de Loire in 1990. He has appeared in music festivals in France, Romania, Morocco, Poland, Japan and Austria.