Piano Extra III - Henri Sigfridsson & Vincent Heeren

In the organizer's words:

Henri Sigfridsson &
Vincent Heeren

Vincent Heeren piano
Henri Sigfridsson piano

Maurice Ravel
Le tombeau de Couperin
Franz Liszt
Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (excerpts)

Around 20 kilometers away from the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle is the Folkwang University of the Arts, one of the most renowned music schools in the German university landscape. Henri Sigfridsson from Finland has been a professor there since 2011 and promotes the musical excellence of future generations. But he is also successful as a pianist, playing in major concert halls and at international festivals such as the Salzburg Festival. In 1994, he won first prize at the "International Franz Liszt Competition" in Weimar, and in the concert he also plays excerpts from the composer's "Harmonies poétiques et religieuses". For example, the serenely meditative "Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude" and the heroic "Funérailles". In this piano extra, Sigfridsson shares the stage with Vincent Heeren, born in Herne in 2009, who was accepted into his piano class as a young student at the age of nine. With gripping virtuosity, the tantalizing images of Nikolaus Lenau's Faust poem are translated into sound in "Mephisto Waltz No. 1". The concert opens with "Le tombeau de Couperin", a suite in the spirit of classical French music - and a tribute by Ravel to his friends who died in the war.