Date: Thursday 24th October
Time: 7:30 pm
Place: Ian Burgess-Simpson Pianos - 19 Stibitz Street, Westlake
Tickets: R150
Bookings : webtickets.co.za (if not listed yet please contact IBS Pianos)
Secure Parking
Cape Town audiences will get the opportunity to experience a unique and extraordinary event at Ian Burgess-Simspon Pianos in Westlake, Cape Town when pianists Mark Nixon, Alex Gabriel and Christopher Duigan collaborate in an extraordinary evening of piano music!
The three pianists join forces in one concert to play beautifully crafted moments and thrilling ‘galops', both individually and in ensemble. Graduates of UCT’s College of Music, and students of the legendary Lamar Crowson, they reunite for the first time in 25 years. The social piano-focussed event will see them playing solo piano favourites, music for four hands by WA Mozart, for one hand by Aleksander Scriabin and for an incredible six hands at one piano! This promises moments of much-anticipated hilarity! Their selection includes the ‘Romance' by Rachmaninoff, the celebrated galop 'Qui Vive' by Ganz and music by Gershwin.
Audiences can also expect to observe a selection of fine concert pianos up-close in this intimate setting and make direct comparisons when the performance moves from one superb piano to the next. Ian Burgess-Simpson Pianos promotes new instruments manufactured by top international piano makers including Fazioli, Shigeru-Kawai, and Petrof. The performance will focus on pianos prepared for concert performance by Ian Burgess Simpson in one evening; truly a unique opportunity.
Mark Nixon is a graduate of the Amsterdam Conservatory, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the University of Cape Town and UNISA. From 2000 – 2002 he was the Anthony Saltmarsh Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music. He has performed in Holland, France, Greece, China, Italy, the UK, the USA and currently holds the position of Head of Keyboard Studies at the prestigious King’s College School in Wimbledon.
Alex Gabriel obtained an MMus from UCT in 1998, with distinction. His teachers included Laura Searle, Lamar Crowson and Albie van Schalkwyk. Whilst at UCT he won many awards and scholarships, and was class medallist three times. He won second prize in the UNISA SA Music Scholarship Competition as well as the best accompanist award at the SAMRO Deon van der Walt Masterclasses. Alex is in demand as pianist and performs regularly with student as well as professional singers and instrumentalists.
Christopher Duigan, a Steinway Artist, has carved a unique and illustrious career for himself in South Africa and internationally. As a concert entrepreneur he has created many new concert platforms and festivals that see him now performing over 100 concerts annually. As soloist he has excelled in concerto performances with major South African orchestras of music by Gershwin and Bartok and an acclaimed solo CD of music by Chopin. His wide-ranging and eclectic taste in music has led to an innovative and unique approach to recital programming and the production of two albums of his own music with Spanish saxophonist David Salleras. He is a graduate of the University of Natal, University of Cape Town, UNISA and the Royal Northern College of Music where he won the Recital Prize for Pianists.