Chopin in the City Festival Movie Screening and Jazz Concert: Chopin. Caribbean Key

CHOPIN. Caribbean Key is a story about the music on Curacao Island. Especially about Caribbean receptions of the greatest Polish composer, Fryderyk Chopin,  which is also known on the Caribbean Island of Curacao.

It is a story about the Antilian history of Chopin’s music and the fate of the people who created it. Here, in the 19th century, the “Caribbean Mazurka” was composed, inspired by Chopin’s Mazurek. For many years this piece has been a “national dance” on the island of Curacao. The music and its transformations reflect the tragic history of this island and its seemingly distant but profound resemblance to Chopin’s music.

One of the protagonists in the documentary is Randal Corsen, the most outstanding pianist on the island. The musician plans to write pieces inspired by Chopin, for traditional instruments and in a new arrangement. He also intends to invite contemporary musicians from Curacao, who have not yet played Chopin, to participate in the concert. In the final “Traces of Chopin” concert, a classical Chopin piano is presented by Janusz Olejniczak – an internationally recognised composer, enthusiast and interpreter of Chopin’s music – accompanied by the lively, wild and polyphonic music of the island today. It is original music that tells the difficult history of this wonderful island of Curacao.