The opening concert of the London Piano Festival brings together its two Artistic Directors in an evening to showcase their special collaboration.

Charles Owen has always been fascinated by the musical friendship between Brahms and Schumann, especially when contrasted with that of Liszt and Wagner. His choice of beautiful solo music by all four composers reflects this passion.

Katya Apekisheva chooses a Polish/Russian theme to introduce one lesser known, but highly evocative, sonata by Weinberg, written in 1942 and inspired by Shostakovich. She precedes this with a group from Tchaikovsky’s Seasons.

After the interval Katya and Charles join forces on two pianos for an all-Russian immersion into the dazzling world of Rachmaninov’s Suite No. 2, culminating in the sheer exotic thrill of Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances.

‘Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva are superb pianists in their own right – his Bach is scintillating, her Schubert has profound authority – and as a duo they make more than the sum of their parts; their Mozart and Brahms series helped put Kings Place on the chamber-music map.’ The Independent

Duration: 100 mins including an interval