A grand piano duel
Image: Gerard Willems & Tamara Anna Cislowska. Image: The Sydney
Two of Australia’s finest pianists will play together and solo on two magnificent grand pianos in an evening of exquisite musical entertainment. Presented by The Sydney International Piano Competition (The Sydney), the concert will be held in Melbourne and Sydney and feature the outstanding talents of Tamara Anna Cislowska and Gerard Willems AM.
One of Australia’s most renowned and ARIA award-winning pianists, Tamara Anna Cislowska has performed and recorded world-wide to critical acclaim as a recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist. Earning international prizes such as the Rovere d’Oro, and touring internationally as cultural ambassador for Australia, Tamara’s accolades include ABC Young Performer of the Year, the Freedman Fellowship and the 2015 ARIA award for ‘Best Classical Album’.
Gerard Willems AM is an Australian living legend of the piano whose performance and teaching career spans Australia, Asia and Europe. Boasting multiple ARIA awards for his recordings of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, five piano concertos with Sinfonia Australis, and the ‘Diabelli Variations’, Gerard is recognised as a pre-eminent specialist of the first Viennese school.
Featuring a selection of the most popular and esteemed composers across centuries, the program is an absolute crowd-pleaser: Mozart;s Overture from The Magic Flute K.620 (Busoni) [Gerard Willems & Tamara Anna Cislowska]; Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 in A Op.92 [Tamara Anna Cislowska & Gerard Willems]; Grieg’s Solitary Traveller Op.43 No.2, Morning Mood Op.46 No.1, and Butterfly Op.43 No.1 [Gerard Willems]; Liszt’s Abschied 1885 (to Siloti), and Concert Paraphrase on Verdi ‘Rigoletto’ [Tamara Anna Cislowska]; and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue [Gerard Willems & Tamara Anna Cislowska].
The concerts in each city will also include an up close and personal conversation with the two musicians conducted by ABC Classic FM hosts Mairi Nicholson in Melbourne, and Damien Beaumont in Sydney.
