French with Friends

‘Debussy’s music runs through the festival like a thread, though without overwhelming the programme,’ adds Owen. ‘Konstantin Lifschitz will perform his Preludes Bk 1, Stephen Kovacevich and I will play En blanc et noir, and our key Debussy event is a lecture-recital by Paul Roberts, whose writings on the composer are unparalleled.’

Most of the artists invited to perform have personal connections to the artistic directors: Owen came across Paul Roberts when he (Owen) was a young student; Lifschitz studied with Apekisheva at the Gnessin School in Moscow and Kovacevich has been a friend and mentor to them both.

‘Our aim is to make artists feel welcome, to feel this is a special event, not just another recital,’ notes Owen. ‘They are very much part of a team.’ The artists, including Margaret Fingerhut, come together on Saturday night (6 Oct) for the popular Two-Piano Marathon. ‘That’s when sparks really fly,’ says Apekisheva. ‘We mix and match pianists, bringing together some who have played as a duo and others who will be meeting for the first time. The programme this year is really exciting – fewer large-scale works but the variety is enormous.’ The festival aims to expand the two-piano repertoire with new commissions, but instead this year they are proud to present a rarely performed piece by Thomas Adès – a virtuoso reworking of music from his opera Powder Her Face.

The brilliant Polish jazz pianist Leszek Możdżer brings his amplified piano to the party on Friday night (5 Oct), and the weekend closes with a unique multimedia show created by pianist Alexandra Dariescu, The Nutcracker and I. Owen highly recommends it. ‘It’s a wonderful show, visually and musically, with amazing digital graphics. It’s a relaxed, magical way to end our 2018 festival.’