Looking ahead: London Piano Festival goes Russian

Katya Apekisheva, Charles Owen - ©Sim Canetty-Clarke

Following the highly success first festival last year, Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva's London Piano Festival returns for its second outing at Kings Place from 5 to 8 October 2017. This year's festival has a Russian theme, with a line up of pianists including Nelson Goerner, Ilya Itin, Lisa Smirnova, Jason Rebello, Danny Driver and Melvyn Tan. Owen and Apekisheva have commissioned a new piece for two pianos, from Russian-born British composer Elena Langer, and Melvyn Tan will be premiering a new piece by Kevin Volans.

As last year, the festival will include a Two-Piano Marathon in which Owen, Apekisheva and Danny Driver and other pianists will be performing music for two pianos John Adams, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Schumann, Shostakovich, Lutoslawski as well as Elena Langer's new piece, which is inspired by Kandinsky's paintings.

The Festival opens with a joint recital by Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva. After Charles Owen performs Brahms, Schumann-Liszt, Liszt and Wagner-Liszt, and Katya Apekisheva performs Tchaikovsky and Weinberg, their duo will perform Rachmaninov's Suite No. 2 and Borodin's Polovtsian Dances. The following evening Nelson Goerner will be performing Chopin, Albéniz and Liszt, whilst Lisa Smirnova, Melvyn Tan and Ilya Itin will all be performing recitals on Saturday. The event closes on Sunday with a performance by jazz-fusion artist Jason Rebello.

Full details from the festival website.