The Chicago Duo Piano Festival will celebrate its 25th year at the Music Institute of Chicago (MIC) beginning with the Duo Piano Winter Mini-Fest Feb. 1-3. The event offers students age 12 through adult coaching, master classes, concerts with special guest artists, and student recitals.
This year's festival features two ticketed concerts:
- Friday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 pm features the Unison Piano Duo—wife and husband Du Huang and Xiao Hu—who serve on the piano faculty at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and perform regularly around the world. The program will include piano duets by Schubert and Fauré (Dolly Suite); two-piano works by Albeniz and Piazzolla, and Stravinsky’s Petrouchka (arranged by Victor Babin).
- Saturday, Feb. 2 at 7:30 pm features Music Institute piano faculty Mio Isoda and Matt Hagle, Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem, Maya Brodotskaya and Irene Faliks, Sung Hoon Mo and Inah Chiu, Elaine Felder and Milana Pavchinskaya, Xiaomin Liang and Jue He, and Fiona Queen and Mark George.
The Chicago Duo Piano Festival was founded in 1988 by MIC artists in residence and faculty members Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem. The piano duo has appeared with orchestras around the world including the Chicago Philharmonic and the Vienna Tonkünstler. Recent performances included a 25th anniversary celebration concert at Merkin Hall in New York, an appearance at the Gina Bachauer Festival in Salt Lake City, and two recitals in Odessa, Ukraine. Aebersold and Neiweem also have two CDs on the Summit label - Four Hand Reflections and music of Brahms and Schubert.
All classes and concerts will take place at MIC's Evanston East campus, 1490 Chicago Ave. Tickets for the Friday, Feb. 1 and Saturday, Feb. 2 ($30 for adults, $20 for seniors, $10 for students) are available at chicagoduopianofestival.org or by calling 847.905.1500 ext. 108. For more information visit musicinst.org.
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