Celebrating Chopin

The Chamber Orchestra commemorates the 175th anniversary of the death of Frederic Chopin with a performance of his romantic Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor with prize-winning piano Matthew Graybil, arranged for piano and string orchestra. The arrangement has been done by music director Robert Vodnoy in collaboration with Matthew Graybil, and is based on Chopin’s own performances of the concerto with chamber orchestras in Warsaw and Paris. Although the work was published as concerto no. 2, it was actually Chopin’s first effort in the form. While attending the Warsaw School of Music, 19-year-old Chopin met and fell in love with another student, Polish soprano Konstancja GÅ‚adkowska. GÅ‚adkowska became Chopin's muse, and he paid homage to her in both of his piano concertos with the expressive, vocally conceived “piano arias” featured in the middle movements. Chopin wrote: “I have – perhaps to my own misfortune – already found my ideal, whom I worship faithfully and sincerely. Six months have elapsed, and I haven’t yet exchanged a syllable with her (Gladkowska) of whom I dream every night – she who was in my mind when I composed the Adagio of my Concerto.” 

The program opens with Joseph Bologne, Chevalier Saint Georges’ Symphony Concertante in G Major with soloists Cindi Qi and David Qi. The program includes American composer Samuel Adler’s virtuoso Concertino No. 3. The concert is sponsored by Chopin Project, Marie Beckman Declaration of Trust, Margaret and Stan Krol, and the Raymund Foundation.

Praised by The New Yorker as an “exceptional young artist” and by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune as a “major talent,” American pianist Matthew Graybil has performed as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Mexico. He made his orchestral debut at age 14 and has subsequently performed with the Fort Worth Symphony and the National Chamber Players among many others. He has been a prize-winner in national and international competitions including the New York Piano Competition, the MTNA/Yamaha National Piano Competition, the Juilliard Gina Bachauer Competition, and the Nina Wideman International Piano Competition.

Soloists for Chevalier St. Georges’ Symphony Concertante will be Cindi Qi and David Qi. Eighteenth century violinist, composer, conductor, and swordsman Chevalier St. Georges’ extraordinary life was depicted in a recent biopic about the French-African musician. Violinist Cindi Qi received her Bachelor of Music from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University where she played with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and received her MM from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She is principal second violin of the Punta Gorda Symphony and associate concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Sarasota. She also performs regularly with the Southwest Florida Orchestra and Villages Philharmonic. She has performed with the COS since 2018.
Cindi’s father, violinist David Qi attended Central Conservatory in Beijing to study violin performance, and in 1988 he became a violinist for the China National Orchestra. He relocated to the United States in 1994, where he studied at the University of Miami. David has been a member of the COS since 2018, is member of Sarasota Orchestra, and assistant concertmaster of the Punta Gorda Symphony.