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The Cleveland Orchestra Begins New York Residency with Carnegie Hall Performance of George Benjamin's Duet

Feb. 02, 2009

The New York premiere of George Benjamin's Duet, featuring pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard on February 6, marks the start of the New York residency of Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra. Featuring three concert programs at Carnegie Hall, The Cleveland Orchestra's New York visit also includes a week-long residency at The Juilliard School and the beginning of a new partnership with the 92nd Street Y featuring performances of chamber music by Leos Janáček. The Cleveland Orchestra's New York premiere of Duet follows the orchestra's world premiere of the piece at Lucerne in August 2008, and the US premiere in Cleveland in September 2008, both featuring Mr. Aimard, to whom the composition is dedicated. A Roche Foundation commission, Benjamin's Duet received critical acclaim at its premiere this summer, as Hugh Canning of TheSunday Times wrote:

Benjamin's Duet ... is as beguiling as it is brief (about 15 minutes) and underlines the differences between piano and orchestra. Lyrical, uncluttered solos of no great virtuosity are juxtaposed against dazzlingly intricate orchestral passages for a characteristically nonconformist "chamber" ensemble of strings (without violins), woodwind, horns, trumpets, trombones and a spangly array of percussion including xylophone, temple blocks and a "small (thin) pair of cymbals". Pierre-Laurent Aimard - the soloist for whom the piece was written - and the orchestra relished Benjamin's cleansing textures.

For precise ticketing information on The Cleveland Orchestra's performance of Duet at Carnegie Hall, visit www.carnegiehall.org.

For more information on the music of George Benjamin, please visit www.fabermusic.com.

To learn more on The Cleveland Orchestra, please visit www.clevelandorch.com.

George Benjamin
Duet (2008)
for piano and orchestra
2.(2.pic).2.3(3.bcl).2(2.cbsn)-2.2.3.1-timp-3perc-hp.cel-str
14'

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