Foreign musicians awarded for service to Poland's culture

The awards went to Canadian-Vietnamese pianist Dang Thai Son and Argentinian pianist Nelson Goerner.

Artur Szklener, the Director of the National Chopin Institute in Warsaw, said that the Gloria Artis Medals “are an expression of the deep respect for the two pianists’ efforts to present to the world the beauty and values of Poland’s cultural heritage”.

Nelson Goerner, one of the world’s most acclaimed pianists, appears regularly at the most prestigious concert venues. He has made numerous recordings for the National Chopin Institute. He was greatly moved to have received the award. He said: “Words fail me to express the depth of my feelings. I visited Warsaw for the first time in 1995 and I have kept coming almost every year since. This shows that not only Warsaw but Polish culture as a whole means a great deal to me”.

Dang Thai Son in 1980 became the first Asian pianist to win the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. He said that Chopin’s music and Poland changed his life. “In a wider sense, my success changed the way we looked at Chopin in Vietnam and Asia ... Until then, we did not think we were able to understand his music and perform it well”.

Both Dang Thai Son and Nelson Goerner served on the jury of the First International Chopin Competition on Historical Instruments, which ended on Thursday. (mk/vb)