Chopin master returns to Barboursville

By Jeff Poole
Review Managing Editor
Published: May 15, 2008

“This is part of his world tour, including stops in Paris, Munich, Rome, Warsaw, Berlin and Barboursville,” event organizer and host Robert Joskowiak said.
Kortus performed locally two years ago and, Joskowiak noted, was brought back by popular demand.
After listening to the intense and focused young man perform, it was easy to understand why.
He played with such furious veraciousness, alternatingly assaulting the keys and assuaging them.
Such is the young pianist’s intensity, Joskowiak noted, that a special piano had to be shipped from New York for last week’s occasion. The local ones couldn’t withstand his practice sessions.
There were moments during his performance of Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor that his hands navigated the keyboard with such precise energy they actually blurred. And yet, stunning, compelling, breath-taking music emerged. It was as if our eyes had betrayed us. Surely, something moving this fast could never be so exacting. Surely it was. Our ears compensated for our eyes’ inability to keep up.
Kortus’ return engagement was the fourth in a series of benefit concerts for the Chopin Foundation. This year’s event was hosted by Barboursville Winery and sponsored again by Premier Virginia Properties.
As a special treat, Washington National Opera Conductor Maestro Giovanni Reggioli introduced Kortus and the Chopin pieces he would perform in the first half of Thursday’s concert.
Certainly comfortable on the largest stages, Reggioli acknowledged the effort of the Joskowiaks in luring world-class talent to the small village in western Orange County.
“When I heard Robert and Cindy were hosting a Chopin concert in the middle of Virginia, I thought this is the only place in the world a chemical engineer and a realtor can put together a Chopin concert,” Maestro Reggioli declared.
Joking aside, the maestro described Chopin as “good music of the people” and said the composer’s works were “good for the first-time person or for the person who studies it for life.”
Kortus, a serious and intense young man of supreme focus, opened the program with Frederic Chopin’s Nocturne in C Minor Op. 48, No. 1. He followed with Waltz in A Flat Major Op. 34, No. 1 that conjured images of a gilded 19th century ballroom full of lords and ladies that finished with such an uplifting flourish everyone in the audience was smiling.
The third selection was Mazurkas in B Flat Major Op. 18, No. 1 and No. 4 in A Minor which began rather chillingly sad only to finish with an offer of hope.
In his last selection before the intermission, he performed Chopin’s Sonata in B Flat Minor, Op. 35 where he balanced the emotion of the piece with his technical skill in moments both fiercely fast and smoothly slow. At times the piece sounded otherworldly with such vibrations it seemed the piano might simply explode from the music.
After a brief intermission, which offered guests another opportunity to sample the fine foods of Palladio and the wine of Barboursville Vineyards, the audience was treated to Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor.
Kortus certainly didn’t disappoint. It was as if the first half of the program were simply a warm-up for this amazing performance.
As the evening’s storm gathered strength, so did the young Polish pianist who finished to a standing ovation before returning for an encore that only further exhibited his burgeoning talent.
Following the performance, Kortus met with patrons and posed for countless photos. His serious countenance lightened away from the glare of the spotlight and he smiled warmly and sincerely.
“Barboursville is a wonderful place,” he said, certainly aware it is far from the stages of Paris, Rome and Beijing.
“He likes to joke with other artists from Poland, if you’re so famous, how many times have you played Barboursville!” Joskowiak declared. Big laughs all around.
Following the performance, Polish Embassy Culture and Public Affairs Counselor Mariusz M. Brymora thanked the Joskowiaks for their efforts to promote Polish culture locally.
That effort will continue this fall, when they will host world-renowned violinist Mariusz Patyra Oct. 8 in Barboursville between concerts in Washington, DC and Atlanta.
For more info and tickets call Premier Virginia Properties at 540-832-0071.