🎶 Chopin IN The City – Let the Music Begin! 🎶

On February 21, we officially open the 9th edition of Chopin IN The City – a grand celebration of music, culture, and art! 🎵✨

Get ready for 10 days of extraordinary concerts, featuring world-class artists who will take us on a journey through jazz, classical music, and unique sound fusions. This festival is where generations and musical styles come together in perfect harmony.

📅 The Opening Night will set the tone for an unforgettable week of performances. Don’t miss this magical start!

🔗 Check the full program and get your tickets here: https://soundsandnotes.org/

#ChopinInTheCity #LiveMusic #Jazz #ClassicalMusic #MusicFestival

January 2026

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February 2026

2026fri20feb6:30 pm9:15 pmOpening NightOpening NightConsulate General of Poland in Chicago, 1530 N Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, IL 606106:30 pm - 9:15 pm(GMT-06:00) View in my time Event Organized BySounds & Notes Foundation

2026sat21feb7:00 pm8:30 pmChopin @ ConstellationJaroslaw Bester // Metropolitan Jazz OctetConstellation, 3111 N Western Ave.7:00 pm - 8:30 pm(GMT-06:00) View in my time Event Organized BySounds & Notes Foundation

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Event Details

1. Jaroslaw Bester with Chicago Group
Jaroslaw Bester-accordion
Mark Feldman-violin
Matt Ulery-bass
Quin Kirchner-drums

2. Metropolitan Jazz Octet (MJO)

featuring:

Jim Gailloreto-saxophones

Ben Lewis-piano

The Metropolitan Jazz Octet (MJO), founded in the 1950s by saxophonist-composer Tom Hilliard and later revived by Jim Gailloreto and John Kornegay, carries forward a vital piece of Chicago’s jazz heritage. Blending the sweep of a big band with the intimacy of chamber music, the Octet transforms arranging into an art of color, texture, and surprise.

For this program, MJO collaborates with acclaimed pianist Ben Lewis to reimagine two of Chopin’s celebrated piano works. Chopin’s music, rich with lyrical melodies, chromatic daring, and rhythmic flexibility, has long resonated with jazz musicians. Though he never wrote jazz, his spirit of improvisation and ornamental freedom feels strikingly modern, offering fertile ground for reinterpretation.

Through contemporary, masterful treatments, Lewis and MJO recast Chopin’s musical poetry into vibrant soundscapes pulsing with a jazz heartbeat. The program also features original octet compositions by Kornegay and Gailloreto, bridging tradition and innovation in equal measure.

Impromptu in A-flat major—one of Chopin’s most cherished shorter works—reveals his flair for brilliant figuration and lyrical expression.

Prelude in E minor, steeped in Romantic intensity, conveys immense depth of emotion.

Quandary is a contemporary jazz waltz with complex harmonies and rhythms. The title describes a musical dilemma: which motifs to use or toss?

No Man’s Land is a post apocalypse adventure. The music conjures images of twisted rubble, desolate landscapes, and the heroes that struggle.

Time

February 21, 2026 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm(GMT-06:00)

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Location

Constellation

3111 N Western Ave.

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Organizer

Sounds & Notes Foundation

Our mission is to create opportunities that inspire and connect diverse national and international innovative, world-class, artists-musicians through collaborative concerts, festivals, workshops and educational programs....

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