Pädagogin Katia Saalfrank

Katia et Marielle Labèque, the famous pianist sister duo with a career spanning more than fifty years, release their new album dedicated to the music of Philip Glass, completing his operatic triptych composed between 1993 and 1996, based on the films by Jean Cocteau. After their much-acclaimed recording of Les Enfants Terribles in 2020, the pianists now present the remaining two works in the Cocteau Trilogy: Orphée and La Belle et la Bête, arranged by Glass’ music director Michael Riesman for Katia and Marielle Labèque. Katia and Marielle Labèque will be touring extensively throughout 2024 and performing the program in several markets, including France, Germany, UK and Ireland.

Katia et Marielle Labèque, the famous pianist sister duo with a career spanning more than fifty years, release their new album dedicated to the music of Philip Glass, completing his operatic triptych composed between 1993 and 1996, based on the films by Jean Cocteau. After their much-acclaimed recording of Les Enfants Terribles in 2020, the pianists now present the remaining two works in the Cocteau Trilogy: Orphée and La Belle et la Bête, arranged by Glass’ music director Michael Riesman for Katia and Marielle Labèque. Katia and Marielle Labèque will be touring extensively throughout 2024 and performing the program in several markets, including France, Germany, UK and Ireland.

When Carlo Maria Giulini returned to conducting public performances of opera after an absence of fourteen years, he chose for the occasion one of the enduring comic masterpieces - Verdi's Falstaff. The composer was almost eighty when he broke the six-year silence following the premiere of Otello, and startled the musical world by revealing his complete mastery of comic invention. Renato Bruson, the renowned interpreter of Verdi and one of the leading lyric baritones of the day, sings the title role.

Katia et Marielle Labèque, the famous pianist sister duo with a career spanning more than fifty years, release their new album dedicated to the music of Philip Glass, completing his operatic triptych composed between 1993 and 1996, based on the films by Jean Cocteau. After their much-acclaimed recording of Les Enfants Terribles in 2020, the pianists now present the remaining two works in the Cocteau Trilogy: Orphée and La Belle et la Bête, arranged by Glass’ music director Michael Riesman for Katia and Marielle Labèque. Katia and Marielle Labèque will be touring extensively throughout 2024 and performing the program in several markets, including France, Germany, UK and Ireland.

The new recording captures the pianists’ special artistic relationship with Philip Glass – a follow-up to the Double Piano Concerto the composer dedicated to the sisters in 2015. They are known for the fusion and energy of their duet, pursuing a stunning career all around the world, supporting both the classical repertoire and the contemporary creation. Philip Glass’s music occupies a special place in Katia & Marielle Labèque’s creation since they are already dedicatees of his Double Concerto for two pianos. It’s the composer himself who chose to adapt his opera Les Enfants Terribles after Jean Cocteau’s novel for them, in a suite for piano duet.

The second release from Katia and Marielle Labèque's own KML label largely revisits Debussy and Stravinsky works that the duo previously essayed for Philips. Their newer versions are preferable, and may well represent the Labèque sisters' finest recordings to date. Whereas a driving, steel-edged literalism characterizes their earlier Debussy En blanc et noir, the duo now imbues the score with greater rhythmic leeway.