Katia & Marielle Labèque

“The best piano duo in front of an audience today” (New York Times)

“The Labèque sisters are tremendous. They are great performers, and great interpreters. And they are wonderful supporters of music- not only modern music, but just music. It is great to work with them” (Philip Glass)

“Whether Mozart or Stravinsky, their musical line always sounds as if it’s being woven for the very first time... But the illusion of improvisation is the genius of their performances. In all their recordings there is a deceptive sprezzatura that is born of throwing the preparation to the winds and hanging onto each others ears.” (The Times)

Katia and Marielle Labèque are sibling pianists renowned for their ensemble of synchronicity and energy. Their musical ambitions started at an early age and they rose to international fame with their contemporary rendition of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (one of the first gold records in classical music) and have since developed a stunning career with performances worldwide.

They are regular guests with the most prestigious orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Filarmonia della Scala, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Santa Cecilia and Vienna Philharmonic, under the direction of Marin Alsop, Alain Altinoglu, Semyon Bychkov, Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Gustavo Gimeno, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Pietari Inkinen, Louis Langrée, Zubin Mehta, Juanjo Mena, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Matthias Pintscher, Georges Prêtre, Sir Simon Rattle, Santtu Matias Rouvali, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michael Tilson Thomas and Jaap van Zweden.

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They have appeared with Baroque music ensembles such as The English Baroque Soloists with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Il Giardino Armonico with Giovanni Antonini, Musica Antica with Reinhard Goebel and Venice Baroque Orchestra with Andrea Marcon, Il Pomo d’Oro with Maxim Emelyanichev and also toured with The Age of Enlightenment & Sir Simon Rattle.

Katia and Marielle have had the privilege of working with many composers including Thomas Adès, Louis Andriessen, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Bryce Dessner, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, György Ligeti, Nico Muhly and Olivier Messiaen. At Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles they presented the world premiere of Philip Glass’s new Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel, the world premiere of Bryce Dessner’s concerto at Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and John Storgards and the new concerto written by Nico Muhly “in Certa in Circles” will be premiered by New York Philharmonic and Orchestre de Paris in 21/22.

The Labèques play in festivals and renowned venues worldwide including the Vienna Musikverein, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Munich Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, La Scala, Berlin Philharmonie, Blossom, Hollywood Bowl, Lucerne, BBC Proms, Ravinia, Tanglewood and Salzburg. An audience of more than 33.000 attended a gala concert with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at Berlin’s Waldbühne, now available on DVD (EuroArts). A record audience of more than 100.000 attended the Vienna Summer Night Concert 2016 in Schönbrunn (now available on CD and DVD by SONY), where Katia and Marielle played with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Semyon Bychkov. More than 1.5 million viewers followed the event worldwide on television.

For their own label KML recordings, they have released the CD box “Sisters” (2014) with a selection of musical pieces from their personal and professional lives. Previous releases include a Gershwin-Bernstein album and their project Minimalist Dream House (50 years of minimalist music). The DVD “The Labeque Way, a letter to Katia and Marielle by Alessandro Baricco” produced by El Deseo (Pedro and Augustin Almodóvar) and filmed by Felix Cabez is released by EuroArts. Their biography, “Une vie a quatre mains” by Renaud Machart is published by Buchet-Chastel.

Labèque’s label KML Recordings joined the historical label Deutsche Grammophon and released five albums: “Invocations”, “Love Stories”, “Amoria”, “Moondog”, and “El Chan” dedicated entirely to American composer Bryce Dessner. They have now released an album dedicated to the music of Philip Glass “Les Enfants Terribles”.

At the invitation of the Philharmonie Hall in Paris for a special « Week End », attention was focused on “Amoria”, “Invocations” and their new project for two guitars and two pianos with David Chalmin and Bryce Dessner including a piece written for them by Thom Yorke “Don’t fear the Light” with Thom Yorke as special guest.

www.labeque.com / Facebook: www.facebook.com/labeque.official / Twitter: @KMLabeque

As of Season 2021/2022
Please use this by Weigold & Böhm authorized Biography only.

Katia Labèque - Piano Solo

One of the most acclaimed musicians of our time, Katia Labèque has earned universal admiration for her extraordinary virtuosity and exceptional communicativeness in concert. Katia Labèque‘s childhood was full of music and traditional studies were integrated in the lessons by her mother, Ada Cecchi, a pupil of Marguerite Long. Favoring her anti-conformist spirit, Katia has an eclectic repertoire that ranges from Bach to contemporary avant-garde.

As a duo with her sister Marielle, she has had an important international career, invited by the most prestigious orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the symphony orchestras of Boston and Chicago, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala and Wiener Philharmoniker. The impressive itinerary has taken them to the most important festivals, from Berlin to Blossom, Hollywood Bowl, Lucerne, the Proms of London, Ravinia, Tanglewood and Salzburg Easter Festival. An audience of more than 33,000 attended a gala concert with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at Berlin’s Waldbühne, now available on DVD (EuroArts).

Katia had the privilege of working with many composers including Thomas Adès, Louis Andriessen, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, György Ligeti and Olivier Messiaen. Katia and Marielle gave in Los Angeles at Walt Disney Hall the world premiere of Philip Glass’s new Concerto (written for them) together with Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel. A new concerto by Bryce Dessner, written specially for the piano duo, took place at Royal festival Hall with London Philharmonic orchestra and Jon Storgårds.

Her own label, KML Recordings, is distributed by Deutsche Grammophon and have release several CD including Minimalist Dream House, West Side Story, Rite of Spring etc….. . The DVD "The Labèque Way", a letter to Katia and Marielle by Alessandro Baricco produced by El Deseo (Pedro and Augustin Almodóvar) and filmed by Félix Cábez was released by EuroArts.

Besides the duo with her sister, in 2001 Katia Labèque created an extraordinary new duo with the violinist Viktoria Mullova, which, from the beginning, enjoyed great success with the public and critics: together they have played at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Musikverein in Vienna, Musikhalle of Hamburg, Munich Philharmonic and again in Lucerne, Paris, Belgrade, Athens, Rome, Florence, London, etc. and recorded a CD Récital (KLM 1110/Onyx 4015) with the music of Schubert, Ravel and Stravinsky (www.klmrecordings.com).

Katia’s most recent solo project «Moondog» took place at festival de Fourvieres in Lyon with the band «Triple Sun» and has been released in Autumn 2018.

A record audience of more than 100.000 attended the Vienna Summer Night Concert 2016 in Schönbrunn (now available on CD and DVD by Sony), where Katia and Marielle played with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Semyon Bychkov. More than 1.5 Million viewers followed the event worldwide on the TV.

www.labeque.com / www.fondazionekml.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/labeque.official / Twitter: @KMLabeque

As of Season 2021/2022
Please use this by Weigold & Böhm authorized Biography only.

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01.11.2022 bis 10.11.2022

Katia & Marielle Labèque

Contact

Yvonne Weigold

Yvonne Weigold
Managing Director
yvonne@weigold-boehm.de
Tel: +49 81 93 23 61 200

Verena Brecht

Verena Brecht
Project Manager
verena@weigold-boehm.de
Tel: +49 81 93 23 61 204

Tel: +49 81 93 23 61 20-0
Fax: +49 81 93 23 61 20-9

News

Katia & Marielle Labèque as guests at Gewandhaus zu Leipzig

On 01 and 02 July 2021 Katia & Marielle Labèque performed with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Under the direction of Semyon Bychkov, they interpreted Bryce Dessner's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, overwhelming the audience and the press: "The immediate impact of this concerto is also due to the dedicatees, for whom Dessner composed it with such sensitive and nimble fingers: Katia and Marielle Labèque, who also sit at the two Steinways in the Grand Concerts. Now and then, their powerfully sparkling playing is drowned out by the bubbling of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, which Bychkov could gladly put on a somewhat shorter leash. But that does nothing to diminish the effect of this skilfully virtuoso, cleverly arranged, absolutely sure of its effect and yet completely unused music: three movements, three ideas, one breath." (LVZ, 03.07.2021, Peter Korfmacher)
Nominations for the Opus Klassik 2021!

Many of our artists are nominated for an Opus Klassik 2021! Congratulations to all nominees and good luck! Nominees in the category Singer of the year: Philippe Jaroussky - La Vanità del Mondo Nominees in the category Instrumentalist of the year: Lisa Batiashvili - City Lights Nicola Benedetti - Elgar: Violin Concerto Raphaela Gromes - Klengel/ Schumann Jean Rondeau - Barricades
Katia & Marielle Labèque - New video for Glass album

With "Paul's End" Katia & Marielle Labèque now presented a new video for their album "Glass - Les Enfants Terribles", released on 23rd October 2020. The video, produced by Umberto Nicoletti, captures the energetic music of Philip Glass. The music of Philip Glass occupies a special place in the creation of Katia & Marielle Labèque, who are already dedicatees of his Concerto for two pianos. The composer himself decided to transform his opera "Les Enfants Terribles" into a suite for two pianos. He entrusted the arrangement to Michael Riesman. Katia & Marielle Labèque also present their interpretation of Etudes No. 17 and 20 on the album. Discover also the teaser to the album, created by Ronan Day-Lewis. Further information about the album under the following link.
Katia & Marielle Labèque - These Sisters Have Transformed the Piano Duo

The New York Times published an exciting portrait of the artistic diversity of Katia & Marielle Labèque on 25 October 2020: "The poster suggests the wildly varied musical interests of the Labèque sisters, who for over 50 years have been playing — and enlarging — the two-piano repertory. They have interpreted traditional classical and Romantic works, to brilliant effect, but have also ventured into jazz, Baroque, modernist and experimental genres — commissioning scores, inventing projects and testing their limits." (The New York Times, 25.10.2020, Roslyn Sulcas) The full article is available at the following link.
Katia & Marielle Labèque play Dessner in Frankfurt

The piano duo Katia & Marielle Labèque played on 22 and 23 October 2020 with the hr-Sinfonieorchester in Frankfurt. Under the direction of Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the musicians interpreted the "Concerto for two pianos and orchestra by Bryce Dessner", which the composer had written especially for Katia and Marielle Labèque: "Dessner, this season's resident artist of the hr-Sinfonieorchester, has peppered his classical three-movement work on a tonal basis with numerous polyrhythmic finesses. They offered the sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque the opportunity to throw themselves into the thoroughly entertaining pianistic turmoil with their own impulsive power and energy, including audible borrowings from the minimal music of Philip Glass, with which not only they but also Dessner himself have already worked together intensively". (Rhein-Main-Zeitung, 26.10.2020, Axel Zibulski)