Recitals Australia is delighted to present visiting French music specialists, Roy Howat and Emily Kilpatrick, perfor
ming a selection of serene yet provocative piano works by Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc and Chabrier on September 15, 8pm, Elder Hall.
Scottish born Roy Howat, and Adelaide born Emily Kilpatrick are renowned pianists and scholars with a deep understanding of their concert repertoire and each other. They met in Adelaide in 2002 when Emilyplayed Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales in an Elder Conservatorium master class. A mutual love of French music and culture culminated in their marriage. Emily says “a French colleague punned that our relationship began nobly and then got sentimental”.
Roy is a graduate of King’s College Cambridge and is currently Keyboard Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His most recent book The Art of French piano music (Yale University Press) gained numerous citations including ‘2009 Book of the Year’ by International Piano. Roy has produced many fine performances and recordings including the recent ABC Classics Belle Époque: A portrait of Gabriel Fauré (which also features Emily).
Emily studied Piano Performance followed by a Doctorate in Musicology at the University of Adelaide. “I’d dreamed of working and studying in Paris since I was a teenager, so doing a PhD on French music seemed like a good way to get myself there. I still get excited every time I walk into the Bibliothèque Nationale” she says. Emily spent a year at the Musée Maurice Ravel outside Paris, where she often performed on Ravel’s own piano, in what she describes as “a magical experience”.
Now based in the UK, Emily is always excited to be back in Adelaide. “My parents are here, and Adelaide still feels like home for me. Having our daughter makes coming back particularly special; we love seeing her happiness being with her grandparents and aunts, and want her to feel that this is her home too.”
The duo is performing on Monday September 15, 8pm in Adelaide’s Elder Hall for Recitals Australia and on October 11th at the Port Fairy Music Festival. Howat’s and Kilpatrick’s deep immersion in French music imbues their performances with a rare and insightful quality, which should not be missed by any lover of fine music.
Recitals Australia Program for Adelaide Elder Hall Concert:
Maurice Ravel Sites auriculaires
Frédéric Chopin Trois nouvelles études; Waltz op. 42
Claude Debussy Lindaraja
Emmanuel Chabrier Trois valses romantiques
Francis Poulenc Capriccio; Élégie; L’Embarquement pour Cythère
Emmanuel Chabrier ‘Sous bois’ and ‘Idylle’ (from Pièces pittoresques)
Claude Debussy En blanc et noir
Tickets $30, $20 concession, $10 student available through BASS (service fees apply) or at the door.
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