Monday, February 8, 2010

3 Pianists of African Descent in Rare 8-Hands Recital at Cayman Arts Festival Feb. 6, 2010




[TOP: John McLaughlin Williams CENTER: Symphonie: Organ Works by Charles-Marie Widor; Marcel Dupre; Naji Hakim; Jean Roger-Ducasse; Wayne Marshall, organ; Virgin Classics (2000) BOTTOM: Ravel: Music for Two Pianos; Micallef-Inanga Piano Duo; Somm 25 (2002)]

AfriClassical learned of this recital at the Cayman Arts Festival in the Cayman Islands from our friend John McLaughlin Williams.

CaymanArtsFestival.com
“2+2=8
The Micallef-Inanga Duo with John McLaughlin Williams and Wayne Marshall
7:30pm, Saturday 6th Febuary, 2010 | Venue: First Baptist Church
For the first time in Cayman, 4 pianists – 8 hands – play on two pianos. The Micallef-Inanga Piano Duo is joined by pianists Wayne Marshall and John McLaughlin Williams. This is high entertainment and pianistic-acrobatics abound during this astounding performance.”

John McLaughlin Williams has been interviewed twice by AfriClassical and has often been he subject of posts. He has made 12 recordings as performer, conductor or both. These include one which brought him a 2007 Grammy Award and a later disc which earned him a nomination for a Grammy. His biography is found at: http://www.gkwcreative.com/artist_detail.php?id=7 JMW, as he is often called, gave us this information about the 8-hand arrangements in which he participated at the Cayman Arts Festival:

“As part of the Cayman Festival of the Arts I participated in an evening of 2 piano 8 hand arrangements of famous orchestral music. Concerts of this kind don't happen very often anymore. (These arrangements were very popular in the late nineteenth century and up until the first half of the 20th century served as a way of familiarizing the public with the new, great music of the day, as well as offering opportunities for extremely fun social evenings. The arrangements themselves are high-level professional settings not meant for beginners or intermediate performers.) We performed Liszt Rakoczi March, Chabrier's Espana, Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre, Dvorak's Slavonic Dance in G Minor, Khachaturian's Saber Dance and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. It was a glorious noise!

“The performers were Hyperion recording artists the Inanga-Micallef Duo (you can read about them on the Cayman Arts Festival site), myself and Wayne Marshall, who is very well known in Europe.” Wayne Marshall was the subject of an AfriClassical post on Aug. 13, 2009: “Black British Organist Wayne Marshall Performs at Royal Albert Hall October 21” Wayne's website is: http://www.waynemarshall.com/ AfriClassical wrote about Glen Inanga and his partner Jennifer Micallef, who is from Malta, on Oct. 20, 2007: "Glen Inanga, Nigerian Pianist in Micallef-Inanga Duo" The Duo's website is: http://www.micallefinanga.com/
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