Wednesday 3 May 2023 8pm

Milhaud              Scaramouche, op 165b

Debussy              En blanc et noir

Ravel                   La Valse

Rachmaninov     Suite no. 1 op 5 (nos. 1&2)

Rachmaninov     Symphonic dances, op 45

Noriko Ogawa’s ‘ravishingly beautiful playing’, The Telegraph, has achieved considerable renown throughout the world since her success at the 1987 Leeds International Piano Competition. Peter Donohoe has also built an extraordinary world-wide career since his success as Silver Medal Winner in the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. This final concert of our season features performances of repertoire for two pianos, some written specifically for this combination, and others composed alongside their better-known orchestral sister works. Milhaud’s lively Scaramouche, composed in 1937 for piano duo, using material from theatre scores, depicts the world of commedia del arte. Ravel’s La Valse was conceived as a ballet score but rejected by Diaghilev while Rachmaninov’s final work, the Symphonic dances, a tribute to the Russia he had left behind, has been choreographed a number of times.