Their experience of professional musical education begins at different stages in their lives. Often, initial lessons on an instrument precede attending an ‘ordinary’ school. While their friends have free time, they have to spend several hours a day learning increasingly difficult repertoire. Many of their peers give up musical practice for the period of their lengthy training in playing or singing (some of them even after their studies), often lasting more than a decade. Finally, for many of them, graduating from an institution of higher musical education is merely a stage on a longer journey to improve the skills they have gained. The concerts given each year at the Warsaw Philharmonic by graduates of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music are an exceptional event both for the musicians and for the listeners. For the former, it is an ideal opportunity to appear on a stage that has played host to world-class artists; for the latter, it is a chance to discover talented young musicians, often before the world hears about them.
Bartłomiej Gembicki