Pianist Krzysztof Jablonski Photo: Marek Grotowski
Stuck on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain, international travel was not something Krzysztof Jablonski would have expected to enjoy - until he took up the piano.
In 1975, the then ten-year-old Jablonski saw fellow Pole Krystian Zimerman win the Chopin International Piano Competition.
He decided that was what he wanted to do.
It took him ten years of hard work, study and practice, but he got there.
In doing so, he joined an elite club of Soviet block artists and sportspeople allowed to travel.
These days, such travel is taken from granted, but Jablonski remains grateful for the opportunities it afforded him - he even had better access to classical sheet music (published scores were hard to attain in Soviet-era Poland).
This month, Jablonski is in New Zealand to give masterclasses at the New Zealand International Piano Festival at Auckland University.
He's also giving an all-Chopin recital at The Piano in Christchurch.
Jablonski joined Bryan Crump on RNZ Concert to talk about his career, his role at the festival, his love of Chopin, and how his approach to Chopin's music differs, depending on whether he's sitting at a modern grand, or the sort of piano the composer would have played on.
