Glenn Gould School Student Performs Concert in Chopin's Home

Eric Guo, a fourth year BMus student at The Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School (GGS) and alumnus of The Taylor Academy, performed a pair of concerts in Warsaw, Poland, on March 1, the day celebrated as Frédéric Chopin’s birthday. Mr. Guo, who studies with John Perry and David Louie at GGS and is a recipient of The Renette & David Berman Scholarships, was invited to perform after winning the 2nd International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments competition. 
 
Mr. Guo played one concert at the manor house in Zelazowa Wola where Chopin was born in 1810. “You cannot get more connected to Chopin than being in his birthplace. It’s probably exactly the same room he was born in, so, it’s, you know, spiritual connection," Mr. Guo said. "I really feel one with Chopin.”

His second performance later that day took place at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, where he performed a solo piano version of Chopin's Concerto in F Minor on a contemporary replica of an 1830 Pleyel piano, and then the Preludes on Chopin's last piano, an 1848 Pleyel. “It has a velvet sound,“ said Mr. Guo about Chopin's piano, “the kind of touch that Chopin would have really sought.”

Said Mr. Guo admiringly about Chopin, “He always emphasized that everything should be with ease and always free, and never to produce a hard sound, and never for the sake of virtuosity. Virtuosity, technique serves the music. Chopin knew about the piano and he wrote for the piano [and a lot of his work is] just technically taxing, exhausting, he really demands a lot.”

Following his competition win in October 2023, Mr. Guo has been touring in Japan, Europe, and the United States, all while completing his Bachelor of Music at The Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School in Toronto, Canada.

Watch Eric Guo's March 1, 2024 Performance at Warsaw's National Philharmonic