Frédéric Chopin was barely in his mid-twenties when he published his Etudes, op. 10, reckoned today among the most significant works in the history of the piano; music critic Karl Schumann once referred to them as the “Magna Charta of piano playing”. Likewise in his mid-twenties, Jan Lisiecki will present the op. 10 Etudes in pairings with Chopin’s nocturnes in Bochum. Lisiecki’s Polish roots are not the only reason he feels a close affinity with the composer. “The nocturnes are magical,” Lisiecki once said in an interview. “And quite difficult: they demand a great amount of feeling. They are emotional images: when you play them, it’s not only a technical challenge; you have to conjure those images.” We will be able to appreciate how wonderfully Lisiecki succeeds achieving that feat on the occasion of his 12th performance at the Ruhr Piano Festival.