We are delighted to welcome back the piano duo Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman to perform two more Beethoven Symphonies transcribed for piano 4 hands by Franz Xaver Scharwenka.
Join us on Wednesday 29th September from 7.30pm for a special concert as part of week long 'Return to the City' celebration.
Programme:
Symphony No 6 in F major, Op 68 ‘Pastoral’ I Allegro ma non troppo II Andante molto mosso III AllegroIV Allegro V Allegretto
Symphony No 1 in C major, Op 21 I Adagio molto-Allegro con brio II Andante cantabile con moto III Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace IV Adagio- Allegro molto e vivace
In 2010, Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman established a duo partnership after being invited to give a two-piano recital at the Royal Over-Seas League in London. Ever since, they have performed regularly at music societies, festivals and at the BBC. In 2015, they embarked on their journey with the 9 Beethoven Symphonies transcribed for piano four hands by Franz Xaver Scharwenka. They are currently recording the complete Beethoven/Scharwenka Symphonies for Somm Recordings.
Tessa Uys
Born in Cape Town, Tessa Uys was first taught by her mother, Helga Bassel, herself a noted concert pianist. At sixteen, she won a Royal Schools Associated Board Scholarship and continued her studies at the Royal Academy in London where she studied with Gordon Green. In her final year she was awarded the MacFarren Medal. Further studies in London with Maria Curcio, and in Siena with Guido Agosti followed. Shortly after this Tessa Uys won the Royal Over-Seas League Competition and was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.
During the past decades, Tessa Uys has established herself an impressive reputation, both as concert performer, and as a broadcasting artiste, performing at many concert venues throughout the world. She has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Southbank, Barbican and St John’s Smith Square, and has played under such distinguished conductors as Sir Neville Marriner, Walter Susskind, Louis Frémaux and Nicholas Kraemer.
Ben Schoeman
Ben Schoeman was born in South Africa. He studied piano with Joseph Stanford at the University of Pretoria and then received post-graduate tuition from Boris Petrushansky, Louis Lortie, Michel Dalberto, Ronan O’Hora and Eliso Virsaladze in Imola, London and Florence. In 2016, he obtained a doctorate from City, University of London and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He won the first prize in the 11th UNISA International Piano Competition, the gold medal in the Royal Over-Seas League Competition, the contemporary music prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, and the Huberte Rupert Prize from the South African Academy for Science and Art. He has performed at the Wigmore, Barbican and Queen Elizabeth Halls in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Gulbenkian Auditorium in Lisbon and the Enescu Festival in Bucharest. Ben Schoeman is a Steinway Artist and a senior lecturer in piano and musicology at the University of Pretoria.