EVGENY KISSIN / ANDRÁS SCHIFF
Two piano legends, champions of the classical repertoire. Evgeny Kissin and Sir András Schiff come together in an exceptional programme for four hands or two pianos. A major event of the 2026 edition!
Programme
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791)
Sonata for two pianos in D major K. 448
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Andante and variations in B-flat Op. 46 (version for Two Pianos)
Bilder aus Osten op. 66
Interval
BEDŘICH SMETANA (1824-1884)
Vltava, from Má Vlast
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Excerpts from Slavonic Dances Op. 46 and Op. 72
Smetana: Sonata for two pianos 8 hands at the Verbier Festival 2018 (Wang, Kissin, Schiff, Cho)
“Approved by science“! It was Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos that led to the theorisation of the famous “Mozart effect” and the positive effects of the Viennese composer’s music on the brain. Between gallant style and cadences evoking the Rondo Alla Turca, the work strikes a miraculous balance.
In Schumann’s pieces, the composer becomes a storyteller. Bilder aus Osten and Andante and Variations break free from classical forms to create a psychological and narrative panorama of captivating complexity. With the help of Evgeny Kissin and Sir András Schiff, it is easy to imagine Robert and Clara Schumann performing these works.
The landscape becomes nostalgic in Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances, where the composer evokes the spirit of folk dances without ever quoting them: a magnificent reflection on nostalgia and absence. The same feeling pervades Smetana’s Vlatva, which today, through its power of suggestion, has become a universal nostalgic parable.