2nd International Piano Duet Festival Duettissimo!

The piano is capable of producing sounds at pitches matching all instruments of the orchestra and of imitating its complex, dazzling sound. Now imagine what happens when two pianos are brought together! The 2nd International Piano Duet Festival “Duettissimo!” (25-29 April) presents this rather unusual form of chamber music, now somewhat forgotten and not taken very seriously, which the Academy of Music in Kraków is striving to revive. We will hear compositions such as Bach’s Double Concerto in C minor, Debussy’s En blanc et noir and Rachmaninoff’s Fantaisie-tableaux, as well as pieces for four hands, including Schumann’s impromptu cycle Bilder aus Osten. There will also be arrangements of Piazzolla’s tangoes and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The event’s subtitle “Polish Piano Duets. Roman Maciejewski in Memoriam” hints that we will also hear music from Poland: Paderewski’s Tatra Album with orchestral accompaniment and a selection of Maciejewski’s dances. The event also features an academic session and masterclasses led by special guests Geoffrey Jennings Haydon and the acclaimed Genova & Dymitrov Piano Duo.

The festival of piano duets Duettissimo which kicked off in April has a symphonic surprise in store in May. So what’s coming during the finale? Piano concerto in C major for four hands and orchestra by Carl Czerny (the solo parts are performed by Justyna Danczowska and Lech Napierała), Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll and the premiere of Demeter with music by Stanisław Rzepiela. Evoking Greek myths, the performance for three voices, three dancers, two actors, choirs, symphonic orchestra and instruments with antique lineage is centred around the battle of the sexes, conflicts of physical and intellectual powers and the clash of human imagination and the laws of nature. See you at the Kraków Philharmonic on 13 May!

Pianissimo, fortissimo and… duettissimo! (Barbara Skowrońska)

24 April 2018, 7pm
Florianka Recital Hall
Schubertian Prologue

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Allegro in A minor D.947 “Lebensstürme”
Markijan Ivashkevych – piano
Guillermo Rodríguez Rodríguez – piano

Fantasie in C minor D.48 “Grande Sonata”
Justyna Kapusta – piano
Maria Dziedzic – piano

Fantasie in G major D.1
Renata Żełobowska-Orzechowska – piano
Anna Dębowska-Jaroszek – piano

Fantasie in G minor D.8
Anna Dudkiewicz – piano
Magdalena Wojtczak – piano

Fantasie in F minor D.940
Danuta Mroczek-Szlezer – piano
Jacek Tosik-Warszawiak – piano

25 April 2018, 7pm
Kraków Philharmonic
Inauguration concert

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) – En blanc et noir
Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) – Scaramouche Op. 165b
George Gershwin (1898-1937) – Fantasia Porgy & Bess (arr. Percy Grainger)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) – Bilder aus Osten, 6 Impromptus Op. 66
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) – La Valse, Poème chorégraphique
Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo

26 April 2018, 7pm
Academy of Music

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) – Petite suite
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) – March from the opera Love for the Three Oranges
Jonasz Kluza – piano
Mateusz Półtorak – piano

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) – Elégie
Myroslav Skoryk (b. 1938) – Can-Can, As From an Old Gramophone Plate
Romuald Twardowski (b. 1930) – Improvvisazione e toccata
Karolina Kisiak – piano
Alicja Gura – piano

Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) – Tres romances argentinos Op. 2
Sergei Rachmaninoff(1873-1943) – Fantaisie-tableaux Op. 5
Appasionato Piano Duo: Dominika Grzybacz, Klara Kraj

Roman Maciejewski (1910-1998) – Negro Spirituals
Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) – Scaramouche Op. 165b
Jacek Tosik-Warszawiak – piano
Geoffrey Jennings Haydon – piano

27 April 2018, 7pm
Florianka Recital Hall

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) – Rapsodie espagnole
Georges Bizet (1838-1875) – Jeux d'enfants Op. 22
Michał Dziad – piano
Milena Kędra – piano

George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Rhapsody in Blue
An American in Paris
(arr. Sławomir Cierpik)
Monika Wilińska-Tarcholik – piano
Sławomir Cierpik – piano

28 April 2018, 4pm
Academy of Music

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) – Petite suite
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) – Sonata piano à quatre mains
Mateusz Perz – piano
Oleksiy Vorobets – piano

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) – Sonata in D major for 4 hands K. 381
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) – Bilder aus Osten, 6 Impromptus op. 66
Maria Słysz – piano
Faustyna Krajewska – piano

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) – Fantasie in F minor D.940
Aleksandra Biśta – piano
Julia Kukuczka – piano

28 April 2018, 7pm
Academy of Music

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
I. Milonga del Angel, arr. P. Ziegler
II. Adios Nonino, arr. P. Ziegler
III. Libertango, arr. P. Ziegler
Ivo Josipović (b. 1957) – Dernek for 2 pianos, percussion and chamber orchestra
Chopin Piano Duo: Anna Boczar, Bartłomiej Kominek
Jan Pilch – percussion
Maciej Hałoń – percussion
Festival Orchestra
Jakub Chrenowicz – conductor

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) – Tatra Album Op. 12
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) – Concerto in C minor for 2 pianos BWV 1060
EMES Piano Duo: Małgorzata Zdebska, Anna Włodarczyk
Festival Orchestra
Jakub Chrenowicz – conductor

29 April 2018, 7pm
Academy of Music

Juliusz Zarębski (1854-1885) – À travers Pologne, danses et mélodies Op. 23
Manuel Infante (1883-1958) – Andalusian Dances
Michał Dorman – piano
Manuel Casares Gestal – piano

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) – Tatra Album Op. 12
Roman Maciejewski (1910-1998) Mazurka, Tarantella, Lullaby, Oberek
Mateusz Kurcab – piano
Michał Rot – piano

13 May 2018, 7pm
Kraków Philharmonic
Final concert

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) – Siegfried-Idyll WWV 103
Carl Czerny (1791-1857) – Piano Concerto in C major for 4 hands and orchestra Op. 153
Justyna Danczowska – piano
Lech Napierała – piano
Stanisław Rzepiela – conductor
Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music