A Journey of Chopin’s Heart

Cyrill Ibrahim – piano

World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens

Nine Elms, London

Thursday 20 March · 7:30pm

Programme

Set I — The Private Heart

Frédéric Chopin

Waltz in A minor (posth.)

Philip Glass

Étude No. 6

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Piano Sonata in A minor, K.310

I. Allegro maestoso

II. Andante cantabile con espressione

Frédéric Chopin

Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1

Frédéric Chopin

Prelude in B minor, Op. 28 No. 6

Frédéric Chopin

Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4

Set II — The Public Heart

Frédéric Chopin

Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66

Frédéric Chopin

Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58

I. Allegro maestoso

II. Scherzo – Molto vivace

III. Largo

IV. Finale – Presto non tanto

Programme Note

A Journey of Chopin’s Heart explores the idea of home — what it means, how it is carried, and how it lives within music.

Frédéric Chopin left his homeland of Poland as a young man and never returned. He spent much of his life in Paris, travelling throughout Europe, while carrying a profound sense of longing for the country he had left behind. When he died in 1849, his body was buried in Paris, but his heart was taken back to Warsaw — a powerful symbol of a life lived between worlds. For many today, this experience feels familiar. Home is not always a fixed place; it can become something we carry with us — through memory, relationships, and emotional experience.

Chopin expressed this deeply through his music. Many of his works draw on dance forms such as the waltz, mazurka and polonaise — not simply as social dances, but as expressions of identity and remembrance. The first half of this recital explores what might be called Chopin’s private heart: music that feels intimate, reflective and inward. The second half moves toward the public heart, culminating in the Third Sonata, where Chopin gathers lyricism, tension and architectural clarity into a single, expansive work. The evening closes quietly with Bill Evans’s Waltz for Debby, returning to the simple gesture of the waltz — and to the idea that home may ultimately exist not as a place, but as a feeling carried within us.

Biography

Cyrill Ibrahim is a British concert pianist and graduate of the Royal College of Music. He has performed internationally at venues including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, St John’s Smith Square in London, and the Philharmonie in Berlin and has appeared on BBC One, BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and Sky Arts.

He has performed for King Charles III and Queen Camilla and has been featured in publications including Gentleman’s Journal, Attitude Magazine and Tatler. His debut recording has been broadcast on Classic FM and BBC Radio 3.

Cyrill’s work explores new ways of presenting classical music through narrative performance, intimate concert formats and interdisciplinary collaboration.