Austrian evening

Piano duo

Dennis Russel Davies

Maki Namekawa

Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa worked together for the first time in 2003. After their highly acclaimed performance at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, both musicians decided to continue their cooperation as a piano duo. Ever since then, they regularly perform in leading venues in Europe and North America including the Ruhr Piano Festival, Radialsystem Berlin, Rheingau Festival, Klangspuren Festival, the Salzburg Festival, Ars Electronica Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, the Morgan Library and “Roulette” in New York, Benaroya Hall Seattle, the Philips Collection in Washington, D.C., the Other Minds Festival in California and Abu Dhabi Festival.

Major works written for the Namekawa-Davies Duo include Philip Glass’ “Four Movements for Two Pianos”, “Chen Yi’s “China West Suite”, and Glass’ “Two Movements for Four Pia-

nos“ (with Katia and Marielle Labèque), all commissioned by the Piano Festival Ruhr. In July 2017, Maki Namekawa, Dennis Russell Davies and Philip Glass received the Piano Festival Ruhr Award. In 2019 Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi composed for the Namekawa-Davies Duo a work for 2 pianos and chamber orchestra “Variation 57”, premiered in Tokyo under the baton of the composer. In 2023 the Namekawa-Davies Duo performed Steve Reich‘s Piano Phase for two pianos, Philip Glass’ Three pieces for four hands and Igor Strawinsky‘s “Le Sacre du printemps” in a four-hand piano arrangement at Haus der Musik in Innsbruck.

The duo’s DVD entitled “images 4 music”, featuring works by Steve Reich and Philip Glass was nominated for the “International Media Award for Science & Art” in 2005 and broadcast by SWR, ARTE and DRS (Swiss Television). On the occasion of the Mozart year 2006 the duo released Alexan-der Zemlinsky’s four-hand piano arrangement of Mozart’s “Magic Flute” on audio CD that reaped major successes in Germany and other countries, later followed by recordings of Beethoven’s “Fidelio”, Haydn’s “Jahreszeiten” and “Schöpfung in four-hand piano arrangements by Zemlinsky. They recorded as well Igor Strawinsky’s great ballets in the original version for piano four hands, “Le Sacre du printemps” has been visualized by Cori O’lan.

Aside from their activities as a piano duo, both artists pursue busy individual careers. Maki Namekawa regularly performs in recital and with numerous orchestras in Europe and around the world with special commitment to the works of American composer Philip Glass.

Denis Russel Davies is an experienced and respected conductor, having held the position of Music director of the “Bruckner” orchestra and opera in Linz. With his wide and varied repertoire, and performances as a pianist and chamber musician he also is a strong promoter of contemporary music and collaborates with some of the finest composers of today.