{"id":193056,"date":"2026-03-06T08:53:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T08:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/193056\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T08:53:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T08:53:22","slug":"polish-pianist-julian-stani-to-perform-friday-at-uteps-borderlands-chopin-festival-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/193056\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish pianist Julian Stani to perform Friday at UTEP’s Borderlands Chopin Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 A Polish pianist is set to take the stage in El Paso as part of a festival and competition dedicated to the music of Frederic Chopin, with organizers emphasizing that the public can attend for free.<\/p>\n

Julian Stani, a guest artist from Poland, said he was invited by Dr. Oscar Macchione to perform at the Borderlands Chopin Festival and Competition after the two met in Poland. Stani said Macchione heard him during his \u201cfirst diploma of master degree,\u201d liked it and invited him to the festival.<\/p>\n

Stani said it is his first time in El Paso and that he has enjoyed the visit so far, including the local food. \u201cI love Mexican food,\u201d he said. \u201cI love local cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stani said his recital program will include Chopin, Brahms and Polish composer Juliusz Zaremski. <\/p>\n

Half of the recital will be Chopin’s composition,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I will play Brahms’ free intermezzo. And the last one will be a polonaise by Juliusz Zaremski.<\/p>\n

Asked what draws him to Chopin, Stani said, \u201cI love his phrasing and the emotional depth in his music is amazing.\u201d He added that he wants audiences to experience the music\u2019s beauty. \u201cI just want them to show the beauty of the music,\u201d Stani said. \u201cSo I like doing this so like probably every pianist in the world to show beauty of music to the people and make them happy because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stani said he is looking forward to the performance and praised the venue. \u201cI’m very excited. I can’t wait to play the concert,\u201d he said. \u201cThe hall is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deborah Svedman, executive director of the Borderlands Chopin Festival and Competition, said the event is designed for El Paso and the surrounding region, which is why it uses the \u201cBorderlands\u201d name. She said the festival and competition was designed by Macchione and is supported through funding from the Bonnie Brooks Foundation.<\/p>\n

Svedman said the festival alternates between local and international competition cycles. \u201cEvery third year we have an international competition which the next one will be next year in 2027,\u201d she said. In the years between, she said, the organization holds a local festival and competition.<\/p>\n

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For the local competition, Svedman said eligibility is limited to competitors who live in El Paso or Las Cruces, Juarez or Chihuahua. <\/p>\n

She said the festival also offers master classes and brings in a guest artist to perform, with a focus on Chopin\u2019s works.<\/p>\n

Svedman said Stani was selected in part because of his background. \u201cThis year of course we have Julian Stani and he’s from Poland so he knows the Polish music of Chopin very, very well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Svedman said the guest artist concert is scheduled for Friday night at 7.30 in the Fox Fine Arts Recital Hall, and she emphasized that the public can attend at no cost. \u201cThere is no admission fee,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is free. We’re doing this for the El Paso public.\u201d<\/p>\n

In describing Chopin\u2019s music, Svedman noted his reputation and his focus on piano. \u201cChopin is called the poet of the piano,\u201d she said, adding that he was born in 1810 and died in 1849. She said Chopin\u2019s music is \u201cso full, so rich of emotion,\u201d and pointed to his Polish roots, including mazurkas and nocturnes.<\/p>\n

Svedman said the local competition is divided into four levels so students compete against others in their grade level and age group, ranging from elementary through college. She said competitors submit videos and are required to play at least one Chopin piece, along with a second piece by another composer \u201cso we can see that they can play a variety.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, Svedman said the festival is run through UTEP and that details can be found on the university\u2019s website by searching \u201cborderland Chopin.\u201d She also encouraged the public to attend. \u201cWell, if you’re free and available, come and listen to some Chopin,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Svedman said the effort builds on a tradition of free Chopin performances in El Paso, noting that Lucy Scarborough previously hosted a Chopin Festival that was free to the public at the Chamisal. After Scarborough\u2019s death, Svedman said, Macchione wanted to continue the tradition, leading to the current festival and competition supported by the Bonnie Brooks Foundation.<\/p>\n

Sign up <\/a>to receive the top interesting stories from in and around our community once daily in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 A Polish pianist is set to take the stage in El Paso as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-193056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}