US musical inspired by legacy of Polish composer

Entitled Virtuoso, the musical focuses on Paderewski’s relationships with three women: Helena Górska-Paderewska, his second wife; Helena Modrzejewska, a Polish actress who made a spectacular career in America; and Helena Bebisco, Paderewski’s patron, friend and one of his former lovers.

The musical, written by Matthew Hardy and directed by Laura Hope, is a blend of rock, R&B and gospel with works by Paderewski, Chopin and Beethoven.

Virtuoso is one of seven shows making up the “Paderewski – Musical” project commissioned by the Warsaw-based Adam Mickiewicz Institute, in collaboration with a host of American institutions, as part of the Polska100 international cultural programme to mark the centenary of Poland’s regained independence.

The remaining six musicals are billed to be staged in Los Angeles (Golden, Three Paderewskis, 13th Point, and Paderewski in America), Albuquerque, New Mexico (Paderewski!, Paderewski!, Paderewski!), and New York (Blacksmith).

The final performance is scheduled for December 6 in New York.

Paderewski was a co-founder of Polish independence, which his country regained in 1918 after more than 120 years of foreign rule. It was as a result of his lobbying for the Polish cause that US President Thomas Woodrow Wilson supported the idea of Poland re-emerging as a united and sovereign state.

In 1919, as prime minister and foreign affairs minister, Paderewski co-chaired (with politician Roman Dmowski) the Polish delegation to the Peace Conference in Paris and signed the Treaty of Versailles.

Paderewski died in the United States in 1941 and—following a decision by President Franklin D. Roosevelt—was buried at Arlington Military Cemetery in Washington. In 1992, his remains were brought to Poland and buried at St. John’s Cathedral in Warsaw.

(mk/gs)