For Immediate Release

September 3, 2024

Introducing The Chopin Podcast – a podcast about the greatest piano music ever composed.

The Chopin Podcast, a new 12-episode series that delves into the unparalleled piano compositions of Frédéric Chopin, is set to premiere on October 2, 2024. The podcast offers an intimate exploration of Chopin's genius for a broad audience, from classical piano insiders to curious music-lovers. Click to preview The Chopin Podcast.

Created and hosted by Ben Laude and featuring the insights of GRAMMY Award-winning concert pianist Garrick Ohlsson in every episode, the series will also include special guests from renowned Chopin scholars to past Chopin Competition medalists.

Produced in partnership with the Chopin Foundation of the United States, The Chopin Podcast comes on the eve of the 11th National Chopin Competition, which takes place January 4-12, 2025 in Miami, FL. Held every five years, the National Chopin Competition is a launching pad for the best young American pianists, with the top two prize-winners earning automatic admission to the live rounds at the 19th International Chopin Competition in Warsaw in October 2025. Garrick Ohlsson will serve on the juries of both competitions next year.

In 2022 Garrick Ohlsson was named Honorary Chairman of the Chopin Foundation, affirming their joint dedication to the mission to make Chopin’s music accessible to everyone. The Chopin Podcast embodies this ideal and offers a platform for Ohlsson to communicate the universality of Chopin’s music to popular audiences.

Each episode of The Chopin Podcast is dedicated to a different compositional genre: the Preludes, Nocturnes, Ballades, Scherzos, Etudes, Impromptus, Waltzes, Mazurkas, Polonaises, Sonatas, and Concertos, as well as an episode dedicated to singular masterpieces like the Fantasy, Berceuse, and Barcarolle. The inaugural episode, Preludes, will feature special guest Alan Walker, a leading Chopin biographer. Special guests in subsequent episodes will include acclaimed Chopin interpreters such as Emanuel Ax, Stephen Hough, Gabriela Montero, Dina Yoffe, and Kevin Kenner, among others.

Listeners can tune in weekly this fall on Apple, Spotify, Audible and other podcasting platforms. Video versions of each episode will also be available on Ben Laude's YouTube channel.

Revised September 24, 2024

Garrick Ohlsson, starring guest

Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Ohlsson is one of the few pianists in history to record Chopin’s complete works.

Ben Laude, creator and host

Concert pianist and content creator Ben Laude holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in piano from the Juilliard School. His playing has been described by The New York Times as “superb in pace, tone, and eloquence” and he has produced hundreds of online videos with the world’s greatest concert pianists for the music education company Tonebase.

Press contacts

Ben Laude
Founder, LaudeArts
info@laudearts.com

Barbara Muze
Executive Director, Chopin Foundation
info@chopin.org