Warsaw's Chopin Institute lures Chinese students

Argentinian pianist Marta Argerich performs with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra during the Inaugural Special Concert of the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition at the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall in Warsaw, Poland, Oct 1, 2015. [Photo/VCG]

Chinese students have to be very brave to study in Warsaw, whatever their subject.

For a start, the language is fiendishly difficult, and Poland's continental climate means very hot summers and very cold winters.

But aspiring students at the Fryderyk Chopin Institute of Music face extra challenges. They have to complete a preparatory year before they can sit entrance examinations to gain admission to a degree course at the institute, one of the biggest, oldest and most prestigious music schools in Europe.

Founded in 1821, the institute's patron was Poland's most famous composer and pianist, Fryderyk Chopin. That's quite a heritage in which to immerse Chinese students.

The institute set in the heart of Poland's capital, counts among its graduates a former prime minister, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, as well as composers of world renown such as Witold Lutos?awski and Benedykt Gorecki.

The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, Gorecki's best-known composition, unexpectedly captured the imagination of millions of people who wouldn't normally listen to classical music, and topped the charts in both Britain and the United States.

One of Bach's biggest hits, the Goldberg Variations, now heard mainly on the piano, caused a sensation when it was first recorded by another graduate, the French-Polish harpsichordist Wanda Landowska.

The Chopin Institute also founded the immensely challenging international Chopin piano competition, whose winners include piano virtuoso Martha Argerich from Argentina, just 24 when she triumphed. Its jury is always a who's who of piano greats from the world over.

Argerich herself does much to encourage young musicians.

The competition is held every five years.

Fledgling Chinese pianists are among those to benefit from Argerich's close involvement with the institute, and even enter the competition.

Chinese pianists have close links with the competition, which started in 1927.

In 2010 Li Yundi, then 18 and from Shenzhen, won the contest, and was the youngest-ever winner since WWII. The records from before the war have been lost.