From November 12 to 22^nd, the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ and the Bimhuis in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) will be host to the second edition of the Young Pianists Festival. The festival coincides with the 6^th YPF Piano Competition (for talented pianists up to 25 years of age).

This year’s festival features a special program dedicated to the fortepiano, on Friday 20^th of November 2015. Starting at 3:30pm (in the Grote Zaal of the Muziekgebouw) an afternoon seminar will give special attention to the Viennese piano builders Geschwister Stein (Nannette and André Stein). Instrument builder Sietse Kok and pianist Keiko Shichijo will introduce the public to an original Frère et Soeur Stein fortepiano from 1802 and its replica. They will show how a 213 year old instrument and its replica contribute to the understanding of the music, its interpretation and performance.

Keiko Shichijo will play Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifteen variation and fugue, opus 35 (‘Eroica variations’) and the Sonata for piano n.21 opus 53 (‘Waldstein’). The afternoon closes with a performance by Natalia Lentas, this year’s winner of the Geelvinck fortepiano competition.

At 8.15pm that evening in the Muziekgebouw’s main concert hall, Andreas Staier and Tobias Koch will join forces in a concert on two french fortepianos, a Pleyel (1842) and an Erard (1839) from Edwin Beunk. The program is as follows:

Ignaz Moscheles Grand Duo pour deux pianofortes
Robert Schumann Andante and Variations for two pianos
Robert Schumann Four Fugues op. 72
Johann Sebastian Bach Canonic variations on Von Himmel hoch, da komm ich her BWV 769
Robert Schumann Six Studies in the Form of Canons op. 56
Robert Schumann from Seven Piano Pieces in Fughetta Form op. 126: nrs. 5, 6 and 7

For more information on these events: see the concert agenda at the Amsterdam Muziekgebouw or the site of the Young Pianists Foundation.