Stefan and Stephen

We revel in the monumental sound of two spellbinding pianos and their master conjurers, in an exquisite all-French program invoking the spiritual, the enchanted, the mythical, and the delirious.

Past and present Festival directors Stephen and Stefan pool their pianistic talents in this celebration of poetic power. Messiaen’s first of seven Visions of the Amen captures the grandeur of creation; Ravel’s Mother Goose scales the ecstatic heights of fairytale joy; Debussy’s Prelude summons the dreamy atmosphere of a faun’s glorious afternoon; and we conclude with Ravel’s self-described “impression of a fantastical whirl of destiny”, in his own dazzling version for a blur of four hands.

Dedicated to the memory of Alison Lansley.