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In just a decade, Switzerland's annual Verbier Festival has become one of the premier international musical celebrations, attracting a who's who of world-renowned artists to the Swiss countryside, in the shadow of the Alps, for more than two weeks of classical music performances. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the festival, a group of the world's greatest pianists gathered to play arrangements of classical favorites for four to 16 hands on one to eight pianos. Pianists Leif Ove Andsnes, Nicholas Angelich, Martha Argerich, Emanuel Ax, Claude Frank, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, James Levine, Mikhail Pletnev, and Staffan Scheja perform works by Mozart, Wagner, Rimsky-Korsakov, Smetana, Sousa, and Gottschalk. Also featured is Bach's "Concerto in A Minor" for four pianos, performed with the Verbier Birthday Festival Orchestra: Renaud Capuçon, Sarah Chang, Ilya Gringolts, Gidon Kremer, Vadim Repin, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Christian Tetzlaff, Nikolaj Znaider, Yuri Bashmet, Nobuko Imai, Mischa Maisky, Boris Pergamenschikow, and Patrick de Los Santos. Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic for THE NEW YORK TIMES, hosts the telecast.
Perhaps Switzerland's tony ski resorts of St. Moritz, Gstaad, and Zermatt are more widely known, but the attractions of Verbier extend beyond skiing to include its annual summer classical music festival. The dream team of pianists performing together on the same stage at Verbier is a rare sight, and one perhaps more common to concerts from past centuries. Learn more about the origins of this type of piano extravaganza in the essay by writer Marc Geelhoed. Meet one of the evening's noted international piano stars, Leif Ove Andsnes, from Norway, in Dialogue. Lastly, see all the works featured in the program in the song list.
Special funding for the ALL-STAR PIANO EXTRAVAGANZA was provided by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund and Victor and Sono Elmaleh.
Top banner photos: Pianists Emanuel Ax and Leif Ove Andsnes, Verbier Birthday Festival Orchestra, and the hands of pianist Mikhail Pletnev.
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Among the pianists performing the opening number, "Flight of the Bumble Bee," are Mikhail Pletnev and Staffan Scheja. |
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Cellists of the Birthday Festival Orchestra, Mischa Maisky and Boris Pergamenschikow. |
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This program is available on DVD. |
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