Hear Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in the composer’s original four-hand version as Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva launch a new series transforming orchestral masterpieces at the piano.

Symphonic Piano is a new three-part series in which two pianists recreate the scale, colour and drama of the orchestra on two pianos or four hands at a single keyboard.

Across the season, internationally acclaimed artists bring symphonic masterpieces to life through original piano-duo versions, four-hand arrangements and virtuosic transcriptions, revealing new details within some of the orchestral repertoire’s most iconic scores.

The series opens with London Piano Festival Artistic Directors Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva in a programme tracing the evolution of French and Russian musical modernism. Debussy’s evocative Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and Ravel’s radiant Daphnis et Chloé are reimagined for two pianos, before the duo culminate with Stravinsky’s revolutionary The Rite of Spring in the composer’s original four-hand version.

Celebrated for their longstanding partnership and acclaimed recordings of both two-piano and four-hand repertoire, Owen and Apekisheva bring these orchestral masterpieces into sharp focus. Experienced through the clarity, intimacy and intensity of the piano, these landmark scores invite listeners to hear familiar music afresh.

This event will last for approximately 65 minutes, without interval.

Charles Owen & Katya Apekisheva

Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva are passionate advocates for the wide range of four-hand and two-piano repertoire. They began performing together in 2001 and have since firmly established themselves as one of the leading piano duo partnerships. Their close collaboration stems from a shared teacher, the inspirational Irina Zaritskaya, with whom they both studied at the Royal College of Music.

Their friendship dates from 1987, during a visit by students from the Gnessin School in Moscow to the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. Charles and Katya have appeared in concerts together at many of the UK’s major festivals – Cheltenham, Leicester, Ryedale, Music in Country Churches, Oxford Chamber Music and Machynlleth. Their BBC Radio 3 broadcasts include the Brahms Haydn Variations from St George’s Bristol and Fauré for the BBC One Andrew Marr Show.

Internationally, they have performed at the Moscow Conservatoire, the Elverum Festival in Norway and in Mexico City, playing the solo parts in the Mozart and Poulenc Double Concertos with the UNAM Orchestra, conducted by Jan Latham-Koenig. The duo released a highly acclaimed first recording for Quartz in 2016, featuring Stravinsky’s two piano ballets, The Rite of Spring and Petrushka, with a dedication to the memory of their teacher.

Together, Charles and Katya are the Artistic Directors and founders of the London Piano Festival, which is held annually at Kings Place.

Reviews:

‘This is playing of great elegance and spirit’ The Observer 

‘They bring a sophisticated blend of tenderness and dramatic conviction to Poulenc’s sonata for 2 pianos’ BBC Radio 3