Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano with Sir George Benjamin, piano

Gracing our stage for the first time, eminent pianist and musical curator Pierre-Laurent Aimard joins us with brilliant composer and longtime friend George Benjamin (Written on Skin) for the NY premiere of Benjamin’s new work for piano four hands – a rare performance by composer and muse.

Aimard is acclaimed for diving deep into the repertoire to curate and illuminate little-known gems. The concert begins with a short piece by modernist Russian composer Nikolai Obukhov before the First Piano Sonata by Aimard’s late friend and mentor, Pierre Boulez – a work the pianist has made his own. The first half closes with Benjamin’s Shadowlines, “the first major piano work of the 21st century,” wrote the Boston Globe. Benjamin’s momentous new composition for the two artists opens the concert’s second half. Aimard is also deeply connected to the music of Ravel – a modernist in his own era – and concludes the program with the composer’s stunning Le Tombeau de Couperin in a concert that expands our ideas about the classical piano in the modern world.