THE MUSIC FLORALIA – MUSIC IN FLOWERS
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
The Music Floralia – Music in Flowers International Piano Festival, established in 1996, is a unique event on Warsaw’s cultural map. It promotes gifted young pianists and gives them an opportunity to play for an audience. It is also a place where people can listen to world-famous pianists’ interpretations of the music of Chopin and other great Romantics. The concerts are held in the Fangorówka Gallery courtyard surrounded by decorative bushes, aged oaks and lime trees. The regular audience comprises not only music lovers, but also persons who, thanks to the Festival, have been introduced to the fascinating world of classical music.
The Festival’s location is the Botanical Gardens of the Polish Academy of Sciences at Powsin near Warsaw. This annual event begins in May – the blossom time for trees, bushes and flowers. This is a beautiful time at the Botanical Gardens because rhododendrons, magnolias, azaleas and other plants are in full bloom, one after the other. Their fabulous colours attract droves of people who, on consecutive Sundays, have the additional opportunity to listen to a concert, or two, amidst a gorgeous scenery. The concert names refer to the currently blooming plants.
The originator of the Festival and its Artistic Director is well-known pianist Anna Maria Stańczyk. Among the celebrated pianists who have appeared at Powsin is Lidia Grychtołówna, Eugene Indjic, Jonathan Plowright and Halina Czerny-Stefańska.