Jane, Frédéric, Anna ... and their piano

In music united

Capture this very moment by watching some of the Nocturnes performed by Anna during An Evening with Jane Stirling that took place in the Jagiellonian University's Collegium Maius on 23 April 2016. Anna had the privilidge to play on the grand piano that belonged to Jane Stirling - the piano that Chopin most likely played on during his stay in Scotland in 1848.

This unique instrument, purchased in 1847,  was after the death of Jane Stirling (1805-859) inherited by Katherine Erskine's (her elder sister) granddaughter and then was acquired by Eduard Ganche (1880-1945) - a musical critic - only to find its way to Chopin's motherland, eventually to the Jagiellonian University's Collegium Maius Museum in Kraków. The grand piano carries a dated inscription by Chopin:Fr. Chopin 15 novembre 1848, which indicates the composer had this piano with him one day before his last public performance in Guildhall, London.

This more-than-a-hundred-and-fifty-year-old-instrument, now a museum artefact rather than a concert grand piano, may sound out of tune at times, particulartly at higher notes, but to know that both Jane Stirling and Frédéric Chopin's hands used to touch the very keyboard sends shivers down our spines. A truly transcendental experience, indeed.

You can watch the performances of three Nocturnes performed during our Evening with Jane Stirling in the Green Room of the Collegium Maius Museum: (1) Nocturne in C-sharp Minor op. posth,  (2) Nocturne in D flat major op. 27 No. 2, and (3) Nocturne op. 55 in E flat major No. 2 dedicated by Chopin to his special pupil. The latter two Nocturnes were also performed as part of Anna's latest concept album - Chopin the Ungrateful: A tribute to Jane Stirling.

Nocturne in C-sharp Minor op. posth

perhaps performed by Chopin as part of hs concert in London at 10 Bentwick Street in the April of 1848, organised in an attempt to introduce Chopin o the world of London'a aristocracy. 

 Nocturne op. 55 in E flat major No. 2