Music for Piano 2–4 Hands
Ticket Information
Student & Senior | $10
Adult | $20
- online
- by phone | 780.492.2495
- in person | Tuesday & Thursday, 11:00am – 2:00pm
Timms Box Office | Timms Centre for the Performing Arts, 112 Street & 87 Avenue - at the door (cash or card)
Music for Piano 2–4 Hands
March 26, 2023
3:00 PM | Convocation Hall
For the first time in more than a decade, this concert re-unites on stage celebrated pianists Sontraud Speidel and Viktoria Reiswich-Dapp with an exciting range of works from early-Romantic sensibility to percussive mid-20th century.
Franz Schubert | Fantasia in F minor D.940 for piano four hands
Grazyna Bacewicz | Piano Sonata No 2 (Viktoria Reiswich-Dapp)
Fanny Hensel | 3 pieces for piano for four hands
Intermission
Robert Schumann | Kreisleriana op. 16 (Sontraud Speidel)
Xaver Scharwenka | Bilder aus dem Süden op. 39
This concert is a part of the Department of Music's 2022-2023 "Faculty & Friends" Series.
Sontraud Speidel received her first piano lessons at the age of five, and at age 11 entered the University of Music in Karlsruhe, Germany, to study with exiled Russian pianist Irene Slavin. Following her Abitur, she continued her studies with Yvonne Loriod–Messiaen in Karlsruhe, Branka Musulin in Frankfurt, Stefan Askenase in Brussels, and Géza Anda in Lucerne. She won numerous first prizes at national and international competitions, and performs regularly in Europe, the USA, and Asia, at festivals, with orchestras, and in solo and chamber music recitals. She is also known for premiering new compositions.
In 1979 she was invited by German chancellor Helmut Schmidt to give a solo recital at the chancellery at Palais Schaumburg in Bonn. Sontraud Speidel is professor of piano at the University of Music in Karlsruhe, and was a visiting professor in Korea, the US, Canada, Israel, Japan, China, Taiwan, Morocco, and in several European countries. She is very involved in fostering young pianists, and regularly adjudicates national and international competitions. Her discography has grown beyond 50 CDs and includes numerous solo and chamber music recordings of rarely performed and neglected repertoire.
Sontraud Speidel is Steinway artist, honorary member of the Werner-Trenkner-Foundation, honorary member of the Tonkünstlerverbands Baden-Württemberg, and honorary member of the Inner Wheel Club Nordschwarzwald. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Bundesverdienstkreuz, the Federal Cross of Merit of Germany, as well as the “Silver Medal for Services for the City of Vienna” and the Josef Dichler Gold Medal. From 1993 to 2021 she performed internationally as part of a piano duo with Prof. Evelinde Trenkner (†2021). Their final CD featuring Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 won the 2019 Echo Klassik Award in Berlin, Germany.
"Sontraud Speidel - a Clara Schumann of today”
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
Viktoria Reiswich-Dapp’s extraordinary artistry has been recognized with national and international prizes and enthusiastic praise. She has performed with orchestras and in various chamber music formations in Austria, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Turkey, the USA, and Uzbekistan. She received her early training in the Soviet Union before at age 11 beginning her studies at the University of Music in Karlsruhe (Germany) with Sontraud Speidel (a student of Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen) and at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts with Irina Edelstein (a student of Jacob Milstein) and Joachim Volkmann (a student of Wilhelm Kempff). In Canada, she was the first and only performer to be awarded the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship for her doctoral research with Jacques Després at the University of Alberta. Besides her career as a performer, Viktoria has a deep commitment to music education. She teaches piano performance, piano literature, chamber music and piano pedagogy at the University of Alberta, and frequently shares her experiences in lectures and masterclasses, and as a festival adjudicator. She contributes to the Edmonton music community as a board member of the Anne Burrows Music Foundation and as faculty advisor for ARMTA’s collegiate chapter at the UofA.
“high-profile skills”
The Frankfurter Neue Presse
“clarity of touch…stylistic sense…
[and] breathtaking suppleness”
Pforzheimer Zeitung
“an impeccable soloist”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Music News
Past Concerts
Warm Winds
October 2, 2022
Joachim Segger – Solo Piano
October 1, 2022
Terrific Trios
September 28, 2022
UofA Days Music Concert
September 25, 2022
Brackishwater: New Works for Brass by Faculty Composers
September 11, 2022
September 10, 2022