Marking the mid-point of the 2025 Canberra International Music Festival, this recital by two equally extraordinary virtuoso pianists was emblematic of the consistently exceptional quality of performance Artistic Director Eugene Ughetti has realised in his first year at the Festival’s helm.

Bringing their different characters to a single stage, and to the keys of the Snow Concert Hall’s magnificent Steinway, Konstantin Shamray and Paavali Jumppanen were flawless, both individually and when playing together for the final spectacular new piece by the Festival’s composer-in-residence Olivia Davies.

Hailing from Russia, now based in Adelaide, Shamray won both judges’ and peoples’ choice prizes at the 2008 Sydney International Piano Competition.

Konstantin Shamray. Photo © Jay Patel

Beginning the program with George Enescu’s Chorale and Carillon-Nocturne from Pièces Impromptues (Suite No. 3), Shamray produced a luscious and majestic opening, hands effortlessly touring the full keyboard, right passing under left, leading on to the expertly crafted carillon movement with its octaves and fifths with constant deployment of the sustain pedal.

Then came Beethoven’s notorious ‘Hammerclavier’ Sonata No. 29 in B flat Major, written after Beethoven had become completely deaf, and regarded as his most technically challenging work for...