Two Pianos in Accord
Smalley Accord
Stravinsky Sonata for Two Pianos
Britten Mazurka Elegiaca
This concert is a tribute to the much-loved Perth composer Roger Smalley for the fifth anniversary of his death.
Saturday 11th March at 7:30pm
The highlight of this concert will be a rare performance of Accord for Two Pianos (1974-75) by Roger Smalley.
Daniel Herscovitch and Benjamin Kopp
Presented by the Royal Schools Music Club in collaboration with UWA Conservatorium of Music, University of Western Australia
Accord, by Roger Smalley
Roger Smalley was born near Manchester in England, and came to Australia in 1976 as Research Fellow in Composition, then was promoted to Lecturer (1979), Senior Lecturer (1984), Associate Professor (1992), retiring in 2007.
Although he had composed a number of works before this, Smalley regarded this enormous piece as his Op.1, stating that for him “this is where it all started”.
The work is composed in one huge uninterrupted 40 minute span, and combines the contrapuntal ingenuity of Bach, the drama of Beethoven and the flamboyant virtuosity of Liszt into a modernist masterpiece.
In this, it will be preceded by Stravinsky Sonata for two pianos and Britten Mazurka Elegiaca Op.21 No.2.
Daniel Herscovitch studied with Alexander Sverjensky in Sydney and with Rosl Schmid in Munich.
While living in Germany he performed at several major European festivals, and since then has enjoyed a flourishing career travelling regularly to the USA and Europe, as well as visiting Indonesia annually.
His repertoire includes works from four continents and five centuries, several of which he commissioned and premiered.
His recordings, have been released on ABC Classics, Tall Poppies, CSM, Continuum and Toccata Classics labels.
His recent CD of music by Roger Smalley was one of the Editor’s Choices in the October 2019 issue of Gramophone (UK).Two further CDs are scheduled for release next year.
He is currently Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Pianist Benjamin Kopp has performed as soloist with many major Australian orchestras, including The Metropolitan Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and WASO.
In 2007 he was the winner of the keyboard section of the Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards.
In 2009, Benjamin co-founded the Streeton Trio, an all-Australian piano Trio. As part of this Trio, he has released four CDs (Mendelssohn Complete Piano Trios, Brahms/Ravel, Haydn/ Beethoven/Smalley, Kats-Chernin) which received favourable reviews in Limelight magazine.
The Trio also received positive reviews in The Strad magazine. In 2014 the Trio performed in Wigmore Hall in London.
With the Streeton Trio, he has toured extensively throughout Europe, China, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Scandinavia, New Zealand and Australia. In Europe, Benjamin played concerts with Ensemble Namascae, Ensemble Contrechamps, Tomoko Akasaka, Danjulo Ishizaka and as part of the European Chamber Music Academy.
Recently, Benjamin has also performed with Umberto Clerici, Ensemble Offspring, Jason Noble and the Sydney Chamber Opera.
Benjamin has studied with Daniel Herscovitch, Pascal Devoyon, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Rita Reichman and Jennifer Hammond.
Saturday 11th March at 7:30pm