The curtain of the Spring Festival, the spring festival of arts at the Athens Concert Hall, opens with Katia (Katia) and Marielle Labèque (Mariel Labeck), one of the best piano twins in the world. The Megaron Spring Festival is a new initiative of the Megaron that aspires to become an important institution of our cultural life.
At the opening concert of the Festival, on Thursday, March 31, at 20:30 in the Christos Lambrakis Hall, the two famous soloists from France will perform “Six Ancient Inscriptions for Two Pianos” by Claude Debussy, the “Rite of Spring” (version for two pianos) by Igor Stravinsky and Franz Schubert’s “Fantasy in a minor, for piano, four hands”.
Katia and Mariel Labeck have been excelling in the world’s largest symphony halls for five decades. As a piano duo, they are famous for their sparkling and elegant playing, but also for the special way in which they combine their different musical temperaments.
During their impressive artistic career, they have played with some of the world’s most famous orchestras (including the St. Cazilia Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin, Vienna, London, Los Angeles, New York and Milan Scala, Paris, Chicago, Boston and London Symphonies) conducted by top conductors (Alsop, Altinoglu, Bychkov, Davis, Dudamel, Gimeno, Grazinyte-Tyla, Inkinen, Langrée, Mehta, Mena, Orozco-Estrada, Ozawa, Pints , Pretre, Rattle, Rouvali, Salonen, Tilson Thomas, van Zweden). They have also collaborated with internationally renowned Baroque ensembles and toured with the Enlightenment Orchestra. In addition, Katia and Mariel Labeck have collaborated with great contemporary composers, such as, among others, Berio, Ligeti and Messiaen, while they have presented at the world premiere the new concerts of Philip Glass and Bryce Dessner. This season, they are performing Nico Muhly’s new concerto for the first time.
The Lubeck sisters often take part in top international festivals around the world, with the participation of the public breaking all records. Their performance with the Berlin Philharmonic at the Waldbühne Theater gathered more than 33,000 people, more than 100,000 spectators enjoyed it live at the Vienna Summer Night Concert at the Schönbrunn Palace, while 1.5 million people from all over the world attended the concert from the TV.
The discography of the Labeck brothers is rich and covers a wide repertoire, with special emphasis on the recording of contemporary works. They have taken part in many successful audiovisual productions. At the invitation of the Philharmonie Hall in Paris, they take part in a new project for two guitars and two pianos.
The Spring Festival
The events of the Spring Festival continue on April 1 with the concert of the great lady of the piano Elizabeth Leonskaya and the Athens State Orchestra under Loukas Karytinos.
On April 3, Gauthier Capson, one of the most important ambassadors of the cello internationally, comes to the Megaron, who will share the stage of the Dimitris Mitropoulos Hall with his favorite friend Jerome Dykros, a distinguished pianist and composer.
On April 4, Maria Joao Pires, a leading pianist with a long international career, will appear at the Megaron, with numerous awards and rave reviews, record-breaking recordings, but also particularly remarkable live performances in the classical and romantic repertoire. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), one of the most remarkable percussion orchestras in Europe, the Les Percussions de Strasbourg Ensemble, comes to Athens on April 10 to introduce us to the idiosyncratic world of the great architect of sounds.
The concert is part of a wider collaboration of cultural institutions for the year Xenakis (https://meta-xenakis.org). The curtain of the Megaron Spring Festival closes with the most important dance event of spring: the three performances (15, 16 and 17/4) of Martha Graham Dance Company, the group created by the priestess of modern dance, a historical ensemble that has behind it 95 years of pioneering creation and has appeared in more than 50 countries captivating millions of viewers. The dancers of the emblematic band will present in the first pan-European the new production “Canticle for Innocent Comedians”.
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