Sunday, March 3, 2024, 3:00pm
Darke Hall
La Fiammata, a duo composed of pianists Linda Ruan and Charissa Vandikas, explore the importance of community through music. Their four-handed interaction on a single piano invites us to be joyful, to come together and to celebrate the beauty of humanity. The duo addresses various social themes through a varied repertoire that includes works by Alice Ho, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert.
As part of Road Trip! a Pan-Canadian Parternship with Debut Atlantic and Prairie Debut.
PROGRAM
8 Variations on a Theme by Count Waldstein, WoO 67 – Beethoven
Monument – Kulesha
“Lebenssturme” Allegro in A minor – Schubert
Prima-Goodman Fantasy – Murphy
Intermission
Rondo in A Major, D. 951 – Schubert
Heart to Heart – Ho
Gazebo Dances – Corigliano
I. Overture
II. Waltz
III. Adagio
IV. Tarantella
Praised for their “dizzying musicality” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Canadian piano duo La Fiammata, composed of pianists Linda Ruan and Charissa Vandikas, are the Second Prize winners, the Henle Urtext Prize winners and the youngest piano duo finalists of the 70th ARD International Music Competition. Since their formation in 2015, La Fiammata has quickly emerged as one of the most promising young duos in the world, garnering top prizes at the 2021 Lancaster International Chamber Music Competition, the 2019 Suzana Szörenyi International Piano Duo Competition, and at the 2018 Northwest International Piano Ensemble Competition. As the Grand Prix Winners of the Canadian Music Competition, La Fiammata made its orchestral debut with Orchestre de la Francophonie and conductor Nicolas Ellis in 2017. Since then, they’ve performed with orchestras in Europe and North America, and have been featured on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, BR24 Rundschau (Bavarian Radio), Art Channel Romania, and EnjoyTV Romania.
The duo was formed in Toronto where they were both full scholarship students of The Glenn Gould School. During this time, they primarily worked with James Anagnoson of the renowned Anagnoson-Kinton Duo. They have also received coachings from Anagnoson-Kinton Duo, Emanuel Ax, Hung-Kuan Chen, Michael Esch and John O’Conor.
*JM Canada reserves the right to modify the repertoire without prior notice.
