Cocteau Trilogy | Katia and Marielle Labèque

Legendary sibling pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque present their recent collaboration with American minimalist composer Philip Glass: arrangements for two pianos of his Cocteau Trilogy.

In 2021, Katia and Marielle Labèque created instrumental suites for two pianos from Philip Glass’s opera Les Enfants Terribles, based on Jean Cocteau’s film. The result was so successful that they approached Glass to complete the set with the remaining two operas in the Cocteau Trilogy: Orphée and La Belle et la Bête In a special collaboration with the Philharmonie de Paris, Katia and Marielle Labe'que bring their ‘velveteen touch’ (Guardian) into a new dimension: suspended above the stage, a chandelier transports us to the intimate spaces within Cocteau’s stories, lighting up as it interacts with the music below.

‘The Labèque sisters are tremendous. They’re great performers, and great interpreters. And they’re wonderful supporters of music – not only modern music, but just music. It was great to work with them.’ – Philip Glass.