Marathon concerts celebrate Chopin's 200th anniv.

Poland is celebrating the 200th birthday of one of its most famous sons, the composer Fryderyk Chopin. Among the events is a week-long marathon of recitals of his music.

Poland is celebrating the 200th birthday of one of its most famous sons, the composer Fryderyk Chopin. Among the events is a week-long marathon of  recitals of his music.

With experts split on whether Chopin was born on February 22nd or March 1st, 1810, organizers have decided to bridge the two dates with round-the-clock recitals of his work lasting 171 hours at a neo-classical building in Warsaw's old town.

Twenty-five year old Japanese pianist Ai Kayukawa performed on Monday evening, one of the first of around 250 musicians taking part.

Ai Kayukawa, pianist, said, "To keep performing from February 22 continuously for a week is a very interesting thing to do, in Japan it would be unbelievable, it' an interesting experience. So professionals, amateurs, anybody can come and perform Chopin's music. I would like people to come and listen."

Chopin's oeuvre, ranging from elegiac sonatas and concertos to lively Mazurka folk dances, is revered in Japan and China and concerts marking his bicentenary will be held in many countries, including at the Shanghai Expo 2010.

Edyta Duda-Olechowska, organizer, said, "We hope to attract the same audience as the philharmonic. But there is also a chance for those who for some reason cannot afford a trip to the philharmonic. The entrance is free for the performance of a completely un-known student and for a very popular star alike."

The exact date of Chopin's birthday is still unknown, but Duda-Olechowska suspects that this might be due to christening customs in Poland at that time.

Edyta Duda-Olechowska said, "There was a custom that the child was christened a few days later and sometimes that date was used to mark the beginning of one's life. Biographers to this day have no idea what it's about, what day it was. We don't want to take on the subject, we just want take pleasure from these wonderful compositions."

Long treasured as a national icon, Chopin's bicentenary provides a timely opportunity to market Poland as a land of high culture, firmly back in the European mainstream after its tragic 20th century, and should help lure large numbers of tourists.

Chopin left Poland at the age of 20 and spent most of his adult life in Paris but he remained a staunch patriot and his work is suffused with nostalgia for his homeland, at that time partitioned between Russia, Austria-Hungary and Prussia.

In exile, he counted fellow composers Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz and artist Eugene Delacroix among his friends. He had a turbulent love affair lasting many years with the female novelist George Sand. Dogged by poor health, he died in 1849.