2016+: New
communications approach
Since 2014, Icons of Europe has studied
certain issues on Chopin's early life,
and initiated investigative research on Charles XII
of Sweden, Napoleon and Shakespeare.
 In
parallel, we have developed three Twitter
accounts:
@IconsEurope
@ChopinFryderyk
@KarlXII_Sverige
The
revised website
with a News section provides a 'mobile-friendly'
overview of our work including new
co-production opportunities. |
|
 KARL
XII: Kungamord!
Detta är en forskningsrapport (2017) skriven på ett
lättläsligt sätt. Forskningen grundas på svenska
och utländska källor, flera med nyfunnen information
från 1700-talet, samt på fältstudier i Norge.
Författare Cecilia
Nordenkull upptäckte nyligen, att hon är en
ättling till Karl XII:s syster Hedvig Sofia. |
|
 BEL CANTO:
Chopin Teaching the Art of
Singing
>>
Amazon |
About it
Now in book form:
the research paper we
presented at an International
Musicological Conference in
Paris 2013 organized by
The
Fryderyk Chopin Institute, Warsaw
and
Bibliothèque Polonaise
à Paris.
|
|
 Chopin
Teaching Singers
The
Fryderyk Chopin Institute, Warsaw
and
Bibliothèque Polonaise à Paris organized the International Musicological
Conference «.Chopin and Tellefsen.»
in Paris on 18 September 2013.
Icons of Europe presented the paper,
Chopin Teaching Singers. It
includes a section on Thomas Tellefsen's
royal patronage and his interest in
singing.
>>
Abstract of the paper |
Conference photos
Left: Chopin teaching a singer how
to accompany herself at the piano.
Ink drawing by George Sand's
son Maurice, dated June 1844. |
|
 Chopin's
Dream
Jenny Lind Gala
Concert
Paperback with the complete
script (&.more)
of the Gala Concert
at
Christ Church, Malvern (England) on
13 July 2013.
Discover Jenny Lind's real identity
and the depth of her relationship with
Chopin.>>
Paperback at Amazon |
|
|
  Jenny
Lind
Gala
Concert
The Dream of Chopin -
music with a story
In
Christ Church, Malvern (UK) on 13 July 2013,
Daniel Blumenthal,
the
renowned American pianist will
performs a
selection of Chopin’s
masterpieces.
Each piece of music
is briefly introduced by
Cecilia Jorgensen, the Swedish author of
the new book Le Rêve de Chopin. >>.More
|
|
  Richard
Wagner 1813-2013
Based on recent research, a
whole chapter of Icons of Europe's new book
Le Rêve de Chopin
will unveil Wagner's artictic relationship with Swedish
soprano Jenny Lind. It will also document his
symbolism.
> Portal on Wagner's 200 years in 2013
(22 May)
> Portal on Verdi's 200 years in 2013
(10 October) |
|
  Oscar
Wilde 1854-1900
New research of Oscar Wilde's life, works, downfall and.legacy
will be documented in the last chapter of Icons of
Europe's new book Le Rêve
de Chopin.
An observation among many: «The OSCAR
statuette of the Academy Awards: it must be Oscar
Wilde! ». |
|
 Malvern
Civic Society, UK
Icons of Europe initiated collaboration with
Malvern Civic Society, Worcestershire in October 2012 to
revive and celebrate the legacy of Jenny Lind as a
source of inspiration for many people and institutions
around the world.
First step:
Commemoration of 125 years
13
July 2013:
Jenny Lind Gala Concert |
|
 New Chopin / Jenny Lind book
Commenced in 2002, the research on Chopin and
Jenny Lind's secret romance and its vast
implications is nearly complete. The manuscript
(in French) will be subject to additional peer
reviews before
publication. |
|
  Stanford
University
A musicology PhD candidate at
Stanford University
invited in 2012 Icons of Europe to provide information
on the approach of using
the arts and cultural research in
the TB fight. |
|
 Donation
to miners in Africa
Icons of Europe donated a financial sum to WHO's Stop TB
Partnership in support of
miners in Southern Africa.
They "have [today] some of the
highest rates of
TB / HIV
in the world". It's a tragic signal in the debate
on priorities for Africa's development - oil & mining
versus good governance,
education, health, agriculture, SME.
Chopin died of
tuberculosis in 1849. |
|
  Carl
von Linné
Reviewing aspects of the life and
work of the renowned Swedish naturalist
Carl von Linné (1707-1778) for the Kalmar Castle
study.
Associated with Uppsala University, Linné is seen as the
Father of classification of all living beings. His
portrait currently adorns the SEK 100
banknote. |
|
 Kalmar Castle
In the aftermath of the Great
Northern War (1700-1721), Kalmar Castle was witness to a
succession struggle with roots in Sweden, Russia and
Holstein-Gottorp. Icons of Europe is currently researching this drama
for a new book. |
|
 The
boson particle
Tweets at @IconsEurope on 5-8 July 2012 noted that
multinational teamwork of c. 3,000 physicists led by
Higgs, Englert, Brout produced the boson particle discovery. |
|
 Icons
of Sweden
How would you rank the
top-6 among 29 proposed names?
Bellman
Bergman
Garbo
Lagerlöf
Lind
Linné
Nobel ...?
Preliminary list established in consultation with
the
Nobel Museum, Stockholm. |
|
  @IconsEurope
Icons of Europe started early 2012 to tweet actively at @IconsEurope
and
@ChopinFryderyk. |
|
 Shakespeare
authorship
Was the successful theatrical
production manager
William Shakespeare, who
performed
for the royal court, "the true author" of the
Shakespearean works?
Icons of Europe has conducted an independent review of the
Shakespeare
authorship question.
>>.More |
|
  Liszt
200 years in 2011
Icons of Europe is working on several initiatives to
celebrate the bicentenary of Franz Liszt (1811-1886),
which coincides with Hungary assuming the rotating E.U. presidency during the first half of 2011.
>>.More |
|
 Nice, France, 17
November 2010
Chopin and Jenny Lind at the Riviera
At the invitation of
SWEA Rivieran, a chapter of the
global Swedish Women's Association, Cecilia Jorgensen
(standing),
Icons of Europe told a sold-out house the
story of
Chopin and Jenny Lind between the piano pieces played by
Vivian Rössner Wejke, Stockholm. |
|
 Frédéric
Chopin à Paris
New initiatives by Icons of
Europe to explore
France / Paris as a
key source for Chopin's music and legacy:
his French father, his oeuvre 1831-1849,
74 Rue de Chaillot, 12 Place Vendôme, his funeral and tomb,
posthumous works, the
artworks created in
Paris, salons in
La Belle Époque.
As discovered by Icons of Europe, Jenny Lind - and later Princess Winnaretta de
Polignac through her Paris salon - took many initiatives to call attention
to Chopin's Polish roots.
Important Icons of Europe events in 2010:
- 24
February: At Hôtel Prince de Galles,
Paris, presentation to 17 Polish journalists about
the true location of 74, Rue de Chaillot, where
Jenny Lind visited Chopin in May-June 1849.
- 6
October: Under the auspices of the Société Chopin à Paris,
a commemorative plaque for 74 Rue de Chaillot unveiled at Prince de Galles,
folllowed by a concert attended by the Ambassador of
Poland and representatives of cultural institutions
in Paris.
- 6
October: Presentation of the new Chopin
/ Jenny Lind book project to the concert audience at Prince de Galles.
- 15
October: Premiere of the new BBC Chopin
film.
|
Chopin recital at Prince de Galles, Paris (left: Cecilia
and Jens Jorgensen) |
|
 Chopin
1810-2010 celebration
Poland's Minister of Culture and National Heritage
invited Icons of Europe to attend the
Gala
Concert at Opera Narodowa in Warsaw on 1 March 2010.
Icons of Europe hosted a piano recital by
Daniel Blumenthal at Lasne near Brussels during
which Cecilia Jorgensen commented on Chopjn's music and
his romance with Jenny Lind:
- 1 March to mark Chopin's 200 years;
- 5 March for a
SWEA Belgium audience. |
|
 Chopin
2010 Congress
We submitted paper proposals to the
Congress at Warsaw.set for early March. On 12
May 2006, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw
invited the founders of Icons of Europe to be
honorary advisors to the Chopin 2010 programme. |
|
 February
2009
New research refutes an
'injurious'
allegation in the press on Mendelssohn's friendship with
Jenny Lind
>> See
the conclusions
dismissing the allegation.
Image from the
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Stiftung. |
|
  The
City of Lodz
Icons
of Europe began in 2007 an exchange of ideas with the
City
of Lodz, Poland on its bid to become a
European
Capital of Culture in 2016.
>>
MORE |
|
 Ongoing
Oscar Wilde / Boston / Napoleon
Research on the life and works of Irish poet-dramatist
Oscar Wilde is a priority. He wrote
in 1890: "After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had
been weeping over sins that I had never committed, and
mourning over tragedies that were not my own" (The
Critic As Artist).
Partly related, research is also being
conducted on the cultural exchanges of the distinguished
19th century BOSTON SATURDAY CLUB with Europe, and on
NAPOLEON's rise to power in France and Europe. |
|
On
the occasion of World TB Day 2008
U.S. premiere at Opera Museum, New York
Our musical drama "Chopin and The
Nightingale" was performed at the Chopin
Festival of the
Marcella Sembrich Opera
Museum, Bolton Landing, Lake George, New York on 25 and 27 July
2008. >> MORE |
|
|
 Ongoing
2005-2008
Posthumous period of Chopin
New
research is being conducted on the 1849-1929
posthumous period of Chopin, and on Jenny Lind's use of symbolism for the
enshrinement of the legacies of Chopin and herself.
The enshrinement reached a climax in Paris during La Belle
Époque. |
|
 March- April 2005, on
the occasion of World TB Day
Canadian premiere
at ROM, Toronto
"Chopin and The Nightingale",
co-produced and sponsored by Icons of Europe, performed
by The Glenn Gould School of the
Royal
Conservatory of Music at the
Royal Ontario Museum, with support
by Toronto Public Health. |
|
 2 April 2005
Hans Christian Andersen
The 200-year anniversary of
Hans Christian Andersen's birthday was
celebrated in Toronto by the Nightingale
events on 4 March and 24 April
(see below and above).
>>
More |
|
 4 March 2005, Toronto, concert
"Chopin masterpieces
and Nightingale songs"
In the context of World TB Day,
Chopin's Concerto in F-minor
and songs from "Chopin and
The Nightingale" performed by
The Glenn Gould School.
Hans Christian Andersen: 200 years! |
|
 11-12 January
2005, Edinburgh
Roundtable with British musicologists,
University of
Edinburgh, on the Chopin / Jenny Lind research findings.
|
|
 July - December, 2004, Lasne
Research initiatives
In preparation for future events and publications, research on new issues:
-
Film project: Chopin / Jenny Lind
-
Chopin key venues in Paris
-
Trail of Mazurka in A-flat,
op. 24, n° 3
-
Polish art treasures in
Canada
- "Lucrezia" |
Niecks
| Stirling |
Tellefsen |
|
  5 June
2004
"Dvorák and Brahms:
a.creative friendship"
A recital for cello and piano by Justus Grimm and Daniel
Blumenthal, to celebrate the New Europe and Dvorák's 100-year anniversary on 1 May 1904.
At Lasne near Brussels with patronage of the CZ, DE, US embassies.
|
 |
|
 6
April 2004, Embassy
of Sweden, Warsaw
Chopin and The Nightingale
Musical drama for piano, two
sopranos and narrator - to celebrate the New Europe through Chopin, Jenny Lind and Hans
Christian Andersen with a specially invited VIP audience including
Chopin experts and sponsor guests. |
|
  1 March 2004, in Warsaw
Expert roundtable
Presentation and discussion of our new
research
findings on Chopin and Jenny Lind at a roundtable (ref.
minutes) with
Chopin experts and the media at Warsaw Philharmonic, in connection with the annual Chopin
birthday concert. |
|
11 October 2003, Lasne
Chopin and The Nightingale
Based on the new Chopin biography,
musical drama for piano, two sopranos and narrator
- to celebrate Chopin, Jenny Lind and Hans Christian Andersen.
At Lasne near Brussels with patronage by six ambassadors. With thanks to our
sponsors. |
|
 23
and 24 April 2003 at Lasne near Brussels
Music: a universal
language
LAN Cui, XUE Yingjia,
YANG Shanshan,
candidates of the
Queen
Elisabeth International Music Competition 2003 |
|
17
November 2002 at Hôtel Astoria, Brussels
Chamber Music Concert,
Champagne
organized by Icons of
Europe to celebrate
the EU enlargement signed at Copenhagen a few weeks
later. |
|
| A tenue-de-ville dress
code and an indoor no-smoking policy apply to all events
at Icons of Europe in Lasne. |
