After 200 years, virtuoso pianist Frédéric Chopin is still considered one of the greats, and the ASU Herberger Institute School of Music plans to show why during the Chopin Extravaganza this month.

This six-concert series will begin Jan. 25 at Katzin Concert Hall and celebrate Chopin’s music with student and faculty performances.

The concerts will run through March 28, including a special performance on Chopin’s 200th birthday on March 1.

The event is the creation of Walter Cosand, music professor in the ASU Herberger Institute School of Music.

“I had been expecting to do something special for Chopin’s 200th birthday,” said Cosand, a self-professed “huge Chopin fan” who created the event along with other faculty interested in celebrating the composer’s bicentennial.

“I love to play Chopin,” Cosand said. “I’ve played whole recitals of his music in China, in Paris, and it’s music that people love to play and people love to listen to.”

The performances, which have titles like the Elegance of Chopin and the Versatility of Chopin, will be preformed by faculty members and show the range of Chopin’s music making the two-month long event a great opportunity to hear the most famous pieces alongside more obscure ones.

This is event will be open to the world, said Caio Pagano, Regent Professor of Piano and preformer for the Chopin Extravaganza.

“They will hear, for the first time, the music of Chopin,” he said.
For Cosand, putting on this event makes a lot of sense.

“His music is really very popular and would be preformed in any case,” Cosand said.

At 200 years, Chopin is still going strong, and with the Chopin Extravaganza converting new fans to his music, it will endure long after now, Pagano said.

“[Chopin's music] is not something that will fade off the shelf,” he said.

Reach the reporter at affoote@asu.edu