Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam

About us The Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam (PFA) held its very first edition in 2013 – the same year that we, Lestari Scholtes and Gwylim Janssens, also known as Pianoduo Scholtes & Janssens, celebrated our 10th anniversary as a duo. It had long been our dream to organize a festival that would shine a spotlight on the pianoduo genre. Our 10-year jubilee as a duo provided the perfect motivation to finally take the leap. And so, after a year of hard work, the very first Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam took place at the former Bethaniënklooster on the Nieuwmarkt. With plenty of trial and error, we hosted four days of concerts featuring young talent, top duos, classical music, jazz, and children’s concerts. We poured coffee, picked up artists from Schiphol, checked tickets, set up chairs, prepared dressing rooms—and yes, we also had to take the stage ourselves. Sometimes with trembling knees, as we had hardly found the time to study and rehearse. Now, 13 years later, the festival has grown into one of the leading pianoduo festivals worldwide. We have welcomed internationally renowned duos such as the Silver-Garburg Duo, the Jussen brothers, Enrico Pace & Igor Roma, Mike Boddé & Mike del Ferro, and Sergio Tiempo & Karin Lechner. We created many of our own productions, performed for babies, hospital patients, the elderly, people who had never heard classical music before, and of course, die-hard pianoduo enthusiasts.

Three core values

At every edition, we stay true to three guiding principles:

Excellence: After more than 22 years of playing as a duo, we know better than anyone how demanding pianoduo playing is. Years of rehearsing together, entering competitions, studying, and taking lessons—pianoduo is not something you just do. It is one of the most challenging forms of chamber music, partly because with two players the sound can quickly become heavy and unbalanced, and every imperfection is immediately noticeable. Each year we invite the best, most promising, and most distinctive duos to the festival, because we want to show you just how versatile, beautiful, and thrilling pianoduo playing can be.

Talent development: As artistic directors of the PFA, we feel responsible for nurturing new generations of pianoduos. That’s why we dedicate significant attention each year to up-and-coming young talent. We do this through workshops, masterclasses, our own competitions, coaching, and talent scouting at conservatories. Every year, several young duos take the stage at the PFA.

Broadening and renewal: We embrace the magnificent pianoduo repertoire written over the centuries, while also working to expand it further by creating new productions and giving unknown works a platform. Over the years, we have created children’s performances and regularly commissioned new works. In 2022, for example, we performed the world premiere of Thorns, a concerto for two pianos and string orchestra by Klaas de Vries, together with the New European Ensemble at the Muziekgebouw and live on NPO Klassiek.

Special projects

Alongside our varied program of classical, jazz, and children’s concerts, we are proud of several unique projects that have become part of the PFA. Some highlights include:

Young for Old: A project in which a talented young duo is selected to receive six months of lessons and coaching from us. The project culminates in a series of concerts where the duo performs in nursing homes and hospitals. In this way, we bring pianoduo music to people who are no longer able to attend our festival, while at the same time offering young talent valuable experience and development opportunities.

Competitions: Every two years we organize the Pianoduo Festival Competition and the Pianoduo Festival Composition Competition. With the Pianoduo Festival Competition, we encourage amateur duos of all ages and levels to perform on our stage before a jury and audience. All participants receive constructive feedback from the jury. The competition consists of a preliminary round and a final, with prizes such as performance opportunities at the PFA, masterclasses, concert tickets, and sheet music vouchers. The Composition Competition, on the other hand, encourages young composers up to the age of 35 to write new works for pianoduo.

Neighbourhood concerts: With our neighbourhood concerts, we bring music to different parts of Amsterdam each edition, organizing accessible concerts for local residents who may not often attend classical concerts. The concerts are usually free of charge, last no longer than an hour, and always include a moment to chat afterwards. We often serve free coffee, tea, and snacks. For these concerts we seek partners with a strong social and community focus, such as BuurtHuizen Zuidoost and de Rietwijker in Amsterdam Noord.