The Chopin Monument in Łazienki Park, Warsaw (the statue depicts Chopin under a willow tree)

Welcome to the inaugural installment of the new Sunday Arts series, which I previewed in a recent post. It seemed appropriate to me to devote the first post in this series to my favorite composer, Frédéric Chopin, and to my favorite of all of Chopin’s compositions, his Polonaise in A-Flat Major (Opus 53), written in 1842. It is a great piece of music, and it is also a piece of music with a distinctive connection to the composer’s personal history.
Continue Reading Sunday Arts: Chopin’s Heart       

The D&O Diary’s European assignment continued last week with a stop for meetings in Warsaw, Poland, a city that absolutely confounded expectations. As befits a national capital of a country with a growing economy, Warsaw (in Polish, var-SHAW-vah) is a dynamic, energetic city, and full of history and interesting architecture. It also a surprisingly green city, with a huge, beautiful river, and vast parklands.
Continue Reading A Visit to Warsaw