2026 Festival Theme Announced: Old Roots / New Roots
From Bach and Schubert to Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and the music of a new generation: at the 2026 Amsterdam Piano Duo Festival, we’ll span 300 years of music history. Under the theme “Old Roots / New Roots,” the festival focuses on the intersection of tradition and innovation.
Johann Sebastian Bach and Franz Schubert are the two major musical pillars of the festival, as evidenced, among other things, by the closing concert—in which the world-famous Silver-Garburg Duo pays tribute to Schubert—and by the high tea concert featuring Bach’s Goldberg Variations in a surprising arrangement for two pianos. Bach inspired generations of composers with his clear structures, counterpoint, and sense of rhythm and form. Schubert, with his extensive body of work, secured an important place for the piano duo within the classical repertoire. Their influence resonates—sometimes in surprising ways—in the music of later and contemporary composers.
In this way, we connect the music of Bach and Schubert with works by composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Arvo Pärt, in which repetition, structure, layering, and rhythmic patterns take on new forms. And we bridge the gap to other genres, such as jazz and improvisation, during our spectacular jazz evening featuring Sven Figee, Peter Beets, and the New Jazz Orchestra. Today’s composers are also given ample space, including Mattias Spee, winner of our Composition Competition. His work “Pentacle” will have its world premiere during the festival’s opening concert.
From historical masterpieces to minimal music and brand-new compositions: the Amsterdam Piano Duo Festival 2026 showcases how 300 years of piano duo music are interconnected. Experience it for yourself from October 8 through 11!