Audio Tour of Frederic Chopin’s Warsaw Available Now
Contact:
kartofonia.info@gmail.com2 April 2009
Visitors to the city of Warsaw can now re-trace the footsteps of Poland’s most famous composer, Frederic Chopin. In celebration of the upcoming bicentennial of Chopin’s birth, the city is offering free downloads of the audio tour “Frederic Chopin’s Warsaw.”
Produced by Kartofonia, a collaboration of award-winning media producers Anna Piwowarska and Amy Drozdowska, the audio tour and companion map of Chopin’s Warsaw is available for free download for iPods and other mp3 players.
The tour visits buildings and locations of the 19th century Warsaw of Frederic Chopin’s youth. Along the way, Varsovians tell the stories of Chopin’s classroom clowning, the tale of his first love, and the intrigue and drama of smuggling his heart back into Poland – and into a church pillar.
Polish pianists perform Chopin’s youthful compositions as visitors see the places where Frederic perfected his art and gave his first concerts. And users will hear the sounds of lowing cattle and the simple country fiddles that inspired his earliest compositions. The tour immerses listeners in the past while they walk through the present.
Amy Drozdowska, co-producer of the tour, says, “Warsaw is a perfect location for a podcast audio tour. It’s a city with a tumultuous history, a violent past where struggle nearly wiped away the visual evidence of entire eras. Our tour shows visitors a disappeared city that’s invisible to the eye, but can be resurrected for the ear.”
You can find the audio, along with a map of the tour, at:
http://www.kartofonia.comand the city of Warsaw’s website:
http://www.um.warszawa.pl/wydarzenia/chopin/indexeng.phpThe audio tour is available in English, Polish and Japanese, with further language versions in production.
About the producers of Kartofonia: Chopin’s Warsaw
Amy Drozdowska is a Peabody-award winning radio producer. Her work has been broadcast in the U.S. on National Public Radio, as well as Polish Radio, Radio Netherlands Worldwide and Euranet/Network Europe.
Anna Piwowarska is a screenwriter, television presenter, and radio producer. Her work has appeared on BBC 1, Five, and E4 in Britain, as well as Polish Radio. She is a winner of the Polish Film Institute Prize.
