Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam

Named after their beautiful 1848 Pleyel piano, pianists Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya and Richard Egarr are known as Duo Pleyel. The Duo has been working for the past seven years to bring the rich and exciting repertoire for piano 4-hands to a wider public. They are particularly committed to providing mixed programmes ranging from the earliest music by Johann Christian Bach and Mozart, mixed with that by lesser-known early Romantics such as Hummel and Dussek, through to the great popular works by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky in the twentieth century.

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Duo Pleyel records for LINN Records, and their releases of Schubert and Dussek have received excellent reviews. Their latest recording, entitled ‘Mozart’s Real Musical Father’, was BBC Music Magazine’s Instrumental Recording of the Month in January 2023. It explores the close musical and personal relationship between Johann Christian Bach and Mozart. May 2023 sees the start of a 3-year recording project of the complete Beethoven Symphonies in extraordinary 4-hand arrangements by his undervalued student Carl Czerny. These transcriptions are fascinating and hugely important from both historical and musicological reasons as well as from a purely musical perspective. As well as performing on their own 1848 Pleyel piano, Duo Pleyel is excited to collaborate with the Chris Maene Piano Collection, and uses several of its fabulous 19th century instruments. Other upcoming projects include performing and recording music by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Liszt and Stravinsky, as well as a Christmas programme entitled ‘Duo Pleyel’s 4-Hand Yuletide Treats’.

"I believe that creativity is central to human intelligence. I trust that it is possible to develop creativity through dancing. And it is 100% worth it! I created Movelab based on this principle." - Monica Antezana.

Monica works as a performer, choreographer and dance educator. She is the founder of Movelab Dance Centre. Since 2012, she has cultivated the concept of Movelab, first in Dubai and from 2016 in Amsterdam. In Movelab, Monica integrates her 30 years of experience and knowledge as an MA in Performances Studies, BA in Dance and Choreography and BA in Education Sciences. Movelab is the dance school for children aged 2.5 to 12 in Amsterdam offering Creative Dance classes. Movelab's motto is ‘Trust your own body and your own ideas’. In the classes, children can experiment with movement and discover and create through dance. Monica's goal is to encourage creativity and self-confidence so that every child can enjoy being themselves.

Lestari Scholtes and Gwylim Janssens have been a piano duo since 2003. Today they are recognized as one of the most promising piano duos of their generaKon. Their debut at Car- negie Hall in May 2009 was hailed as 'it might as well have been 25 or 30 fingers, so grand and fused was their sound. Sublime duo in top form'. The duo is known for their mesmerizing sound, very high technical dexterity and their intense and energetic performances. This has earned them concerts throughout Europe and in the United States, Dubai, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Georgia, Mongolia, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Chile and Bolivia.

Their concerts have been broadcast nationally and internationally on television and radio, including Radio4, BBC3, Kol Hamusica (Israeli radio) and Klara. They have also soloed with orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Residentie Orkest, the Brabant Orchestra, Sinfonia Rotterdam and the Israel Symphony Orchestra. The duo has been featured at various festivals, including the Festival of Bath, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, TonLagen- Dresdner Festival der zeitgenössischen Musik, Braunlage Maikonzerte, Basilica Festival of Flanders, Klevische Klaviersommer, Almere Chamber Music Festival, Festival Classique and the International Piano Duo Festival Poland.

The duo was winner of more than a dozen (inter)national competitions, including the prestigious Vriendenkrans Concours of the Concertgebouw, the Concours Musical de France, the International Chamber Music Competition Almere 2009 and IBLA Grand Prize International Music Competition and was named Radio 4 Talent of the Year in 2010. Lestari and Gwylim are regular judges at various (inter)national competitions. They also gave many master classes at various conservatories worldwide.

The duo initiated the annual Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam, which had its first edition in October 2013.

As a piano duo, they studied with the renowned piano duo Gil Garburg and Sivan Silver at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover. Together they attended many master classes with Nikolai Petrov, Alexander Tamir, Victor Derevianko, Alon Goldstein, Peter Takács, Paul Lewis, Jean-Bernard Pommier and Menahem Pressler, among others. Both began their training in the Young Talent Class of the Brabant Conservatory with Ton Demmers. Lestari followed her Bachelor and Master studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Jan Wijn; Gwylim completed his Bachelor phase at the Fontys Conservatory with Ton Demmers and followed his Master studies at the Codarts Conservatory with Bart van de Roer.

In November 2010, their debut CD was released with works by Rachmaninoff, Debussy and Ravel, under the label of QuattroLive. In May 2014, their second CD "Paris!" was released by Etcetera Records with works by Stravinsky, Debussy and Ravel. This CD was awarded a Luister10 and a 5-star review in the Nederlands Dagblad. Their 3rd CD of works by Mozart and Schubert was released in 2021 by Challenge Records International. BBC Music Magazine wrote about this CD: 'They breathe together, agree on relaKve dynamics and tonal color and understand the balance of the textures.' and awarded the CD no less than 4**** stars.