SUNDAY, APRIL 25 4:00 PM
The EStrella Piano Duo burst onto the musical scene in 2011 with a series of concerts celebrating the great Russian masterpieces for piano duet. Their first performance evoked raves of “technical brilliance” and “infectious joy in music making”. The second drew a standing-room-only crowd. Since then, they have performed widely to enthusiastic audiences and critical acclaim. The 2015-16 concert season alone took the Duo to six states plus the District of Columbia in the US and to several cities in China. 2017 featured both a Canadian and an orchestral debut. In 2018 the Duo was awarded a Global Music Award Silver medal for their critically acclaimed new CD, Tales from the East, featuring stories of adventure, magic and romance by Russian composers. EStrellas’s upcoming year will again take the Duo all over the United States, with numerous repeat engagements.
The Duo’s repertoire includes, besides the usual favorites, many rarely-heard, fascinating works that most duos fear to touch. Their programs are always musically profound, but also virtuostic, often acrobatic, and occasionally humorous, always with introductions which draw the listeners into the music.
Elena Doubovitskaya and Svetlana Belsky are accomplished pianists in their own right. Between the two, they have been heard throughout Europe, Asia and the United States. Their concert credits include Carnegie (Weill) Hall, Kiev Philharmonic Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, St. Petersburg Rimsky Korsakoff Museum, Baptist University of Hong Kong, Ravinia and Tanglewood Music Festivals, among many others. Critics praise them for “marvelous and extraordinary playing” and “confidence and élan”. Elena and Svetlana are also accomplished teachers, who enjoy sharing their love for music with new generations of pianists.