Bertrand Chamayou & Friends

Dark visions, dazzling fireworks and pure enchantment: Bertrand Chamayou plays the piano music of Maurice Ravel and Unsuk Chin.

The Programme

Prepare to dream. Maurice Ravel plunges into the dark heart of the Romantic imagination to conjure water nymphs, sinister fairytales and things that go bump in the night. Unsuk Chin, meanwhile, embraces pure virtuosity: her Six Études, she says were created for a pianist who ‘is prepared to push themself to – or past – their limits’. This is music in which virtuoso piano playing moves onto another plane: a place where sound shades into pure imagination.

The Performer

It’s the natural habitat of Bertrand Chamayou – a master-pianist with personal roots deep in the French tradition founded by Ravel, who believes that ‘creating new music must be at the heart’ of his musical life. Few living performers are better-equipped to bring out the hidden connections that link some of the most compelling piano music of the 20^th and now the 21st century.

Programme Alteration

At the request of the artist, the concert programme has been revised. Nos 4 to 6 only of Unsuk Chin’s Six Piano Études will be performed. Maurice Ravel’s Une barque sur l’océan and Alborada del gracioso have been added to the programme. The timings of the event will not be affected.

Original ticket holders have been contacted by email. For any queries the box office can be contacted via tickets@barbican.org.uk.

Event change posted Tuesday 27 February 3pm

Recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3

Header Image © Marco Borggreve / Warner Classics