Katia and Marielle Labèque
Representation: UK and Ireland
These nonconformist pianists boast a repertory from the eclectic to the unexpected. Daughters of Ada Cecchi, a former student of Marguerite Long, Katia and Marielle Labèque spent a childhood filled with music. Their repertoire includes a broad range of material, from Bach on period instruments to the 21st century contemporary composers.
They have a stunning career throughout the world and have been guests of the most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony, the Philharmonia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Philadelphia Orchestra, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Dresden Staatskapelle and Vienna Philharmonie. They have played under the direction of conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel,Charlie Dutoit, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin, Christoph Eschenbach and Michael Tilson Thomas. They are regular guests at festivals including Berlin, Blossom, the Hollywood Bowl, Lucerne, Ludwisburg, Mozartwoche Salzburg, Mostly Mozart New York, The Proms, Ravinia, Rheingau, Ruhr, Schleswig Holstein, Tanglewood, and the Salzburg Easter and Pentecote Festivals.
Katia and Marielle have appeared with such Baroque groups as The English Baroque Soloists directed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Il Giardino Armonico directed by Giovanni Antonini, Musica Antiqua Köln directed by Reinhart Goebel, Venice Baroque directed by Andrea Marcon, and the Gabrieli Players directed by Paul McCreesh. For the Bach Centennial, their concert at the Vienna Musikverein with Il Giardino Armonico was televised worldwide by ORF and recorded on DVD.
Their first recording for Philips, of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, received a Gold Disc immediately after its release. Since then Katia and Marielle Labèque have made numerous recordings for Philips, Sony and EMI.
The aspiration to build a bridge crossing all aspects of contemporary creation has led Katia and Marielle to form their own label, KML Recordings. Transgressing conventions and boundaries, KML Recordings brings together the unexpected in meaningful and artistic ways, constantly associating sounds and images. Their vision goes beyond classical music to look at new territories where rock, electronic, contemporary, improvisation and video have their say. The first releases in 2007 comprise an all-Ravel programme, including a new version of Bolero (from the composer himself) a Stravinsky and Debussy CD+DVD directed by young video artist Tal Rosner, and their next recording of Mozart and Schubert was released in November 2007.
In 2005 Katia and Marielle Labèque launched the KML Foundation, aimed at furthering research and developing awareness of the piano duo repertory through meetings between artists of all fields, be they musicians, film-makers or writers. One of their projects is a programme for children under the auspices of the Berlin Philharmonic Foundation's program Zukunft @BPhil, brought into existence by Sir Simon Rattle.
In addition to the Zukunft @BPhil association, Katia and Marielle have enjoyed huge success performing with the Berlin Philharmonic at their closing Gala Concert at the Waldbühne, playing to a record audience of 33,000. This concert was telecast worldwide.
Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Suzanna Ivanic
