Pianissimo - Between Classical & Jazz
18. bis 29. April 2011
Schloss Elmau
Schloss Elmau, in April 2011

The opening of this year's "PIANISSIMO - Between Classical & Jazz" Festival promises to be a resounding success thanks to the duo featuring Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn at two grand pianos. American jazz pianist Vijay Iyer is one of the outstanding, most successful and most inspiring pianists of his generation, while Craig Taborn, who plays as a sideman and leader in ensembles, is one of the most interesting musicians on the present-day jazz scene.

One day after the grand opening, there will be a radical swing to the classical genre with the acclaimed piano duo Tal & Groethuysen, playing a mixed programme of works by Bach's son Wilhelm Friedemann, W.A. Mozart, Théo Ysa˙e and Richard Strauss. After playing Schubert's late Sonata D 960, Herbert Schuch will dedicate the second part of his programme to the composer whose 200th birthday we celebrate in 2011, Franz Liszt.

Florian Uhlig will perform Beethoven's Diabelli Variations for us, before jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim takes the stage a day later - yet another master in his field.

Liszt specialist Nelson Goerner presents a programme dedicated to Liszt and in particular to W.A. Mozart and Frédéric Chopin, while Sebastian Knauer, whom we have so recently enjoyed hearing play alongside Daniel Hope in Schloss Elmau, will contrast two central sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven, followed by an adaptation of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Songs without Words and his Rondo Capriccioso in E major. Nicholas Angelich, highly acclaimed by the music press, will bring the festival to a close with J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations.