A Schubertiade with Dame Imogen Cooper, birdsong from Tamara Stefanovich, Vijay Iyer improvising - the London Piano Festival 2022

Imogen Cooper (Photo: Sussie Ahlburg)

Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen's London Piano Festival is coming back for its seventh edition at Kings Place this Autumn (6-9 October 2022). Where did the time go, I chatted to Katya and Charles back in 2016 for the first festival [see my interview]. This year features the usual combination of fine pianism, distinguished guests, imaginative programming and piano teamwork.

The festival opens with Tamara Stefanovich interweaving the birdsong-inspired pieces of Messiaen and Rameau, and ending with Messaien’s Cantéyodjayâ. Then Dame Imogen Cooper is joined by Katya Apekisheva, Charles Owen and Dominic Degavino, pianists who have all benefitted from her skill and unique insights through masterclasses and teaching sessions over the years, for an evening of piano duets. The four pianists will take to the stage in different pairings to perform Schubert’s piano duets whilst recreating the atmosphere of an intimate social gathering.

On the Saturday, Katya Apekisheva and Noriko Ogawa explore contrasting 20th-century preludes, by Shostakovich and by Debussy, then pianist and composer Vijay Iyer will perform a solo improvised set. The festival ends with Liszt, concert pianist and lecturer Paul Roberts presents a lecture-recital with Charles Owen celebrating Liszt’s passionate response to the poetry of Francesco Petrarca 

Full details from the festival website.