Chopin devotees flock to Warsaw for piano’s grandest stage

FROM TOKYO TO DUBLIN

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Every five years in the autumnal month of October, people here have a jauntier spring in their step.

It's when the strains of the piano are little louder, a little more evocative and carry that extra whiff of romance - left here to exist in melodic perpetuity by Warsaw's favourite son, Romantic pianist Frederic Chopin.

The 19th edition of the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition, often considered the Olympics of piano music, began October 2. Divided by nationality and united by Chopin, piano lovers from all over the world are queuing up to imbibe the music and breathe the same air that must have evoked the many moods and tunes in the 19th century legend.

The competition this year is hosting young pianists from China, Japan, Korea, Canada, the US, and Poland among 17 countries. To support them are visitors from as many countries and more for the same reason - to listen to the best of the best Chopin players.