TOKYO: A renowned Japanese pianist Tuesday announced plans to break his own Guinness world record by playing all 212 of composer Frederic Chopin's solo piano pieces at an 18-hour concert in Tokyo. Yukio Yokoyama told a news conference he wanted to “better understand Chopin and let many more people know about Chopin”. He said he would play the 212 Chopin pieces by ear at the May 3 concert at Tokyo Opera City from 8:00 A.M. (2300 GMT) to 2:00 A.M. the following day, with intervals. Yokoyama's record-breaking Chopin concert in May last year saw him play 166 pieces in chronological order over more than 16 hours to commemorate the bicentennial of the composer's birthday, without using sheet music. The pianist said the upcoming concert will see him play 46 pieces that the Polish-born Chopin himself decided not to publish. Born in 1971, Yokoyama studied from the age of 16 at the Paris Conservatoire. The concert will be open to the public and broadcast by a radio station.
