Vieness
The Vieness Piano Duo from Los Angeles, with Eva Schaumkell and Vijay Venkatesh, has enthralled audiences with their electric and captivating performances of a wide range of repertoire. Their intuition for conversation coupled with a commanding stage presence has made them regularly in demand throughout the world.
Photography by MarkHarryWestling.com
Videos
"Vieness’ sense of phrasing was judicious, with poise and sensitivity in the delicate lines contrasting to a pointed peaking in the more technically demanding runs…they brought a wealth of sonorities, from warm lyricism to glittery cascades of sound…Applause erupted on the final cadence, the audience on its feet for a justly impressive display.” Orange County Register
Photos
Click photo to download
Photography by MarkHarryWestling.com
Programs
Holiday Celebration
4-hands/1-piano or 2-pianos
Tchaikovsky, arr. E. Langer
The Nutcracker Suite, op.71a
Shostakovich
Waltz from Jazz Suite no.2
Bolcom, arr. Vieness
Serpent’s Kiss
Tchaikovsky, arr. Rachmaninoff
The Sleeping Beauty Waltz
Rossini
Overture to Barber of Seville
Leroy Anderson
Sleigh Ride
Carol of the Bells
Havah Nagila
Saint-Saens
Carnival of the Animals
Encore: Berlin, arr. Vieness
White Christmas
Let's Dance
4-hands/1 piano program
Moszkowski Spanish Dances
(Spanish)
Brahms Hungarian Dances
(Hungarian)
Corigliano Gazebo Dances
(European)
Intermission
Barber Souvenirs, Op. 28
(European, American, Argentinian)
Milhaud Le Boeuf sur le toit, op. 58
(Brazilian)
Piazzola Libertango
(Argentinian)
Cervantes Danzas Cubanas
(Cuban)
W. Bolcom/Vieness Duo
The Serpent’s Kiss
(Ragtime/American)
Imagery & Fantasy
2 Pianos
Brahms
Sonata in f-minor, op. 34b
Bolcom
The Serpent’s Kiss
Saint-Saëns
Danse Macabre, op. 40
Barber
Souvenirs, op. 28
Pas de Deux
Saint-Saëns
The Carnival of the Animals
The Roaring Twenties:
An American Affair
4-hands/1-piano
Gershwin
Three Preludes
Gershwin
The Man I Love
I Got Rhythm
Summertime
It Ain’t Necessarily So
Someone to Watch Over Me
G. Gershwin
Rialto Ripples
Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue
Barber
Souvenirs
Copland
Variations on a Shaker Melody
W. Bolcom/Vieness Duo
The Serpent’s Kiss
Through The Ages
4-hands/1-piano
Bach/Howe
Sheep May Safely Graze
Mozart
Sonata in C-Major, KV 521
Dvorak
Legends op. 59
No.1 in d-minor
No. 3 in g-minor
Brahms
Hungarian Dances
Intermission
Schubert
Fantasy in f-minor, D. 940
Barber
Souvenirs, Op. 28
Bolcom/Vieness
The Serpent’s Kiss
Bios
For years, the Vieness Piano Duo has enthralled audiences in their electric and captivating performances of a wide range of repertoire. Their intuition for conversation coupled with a commanding stage presence has made them regularly in demand throughout the world. It is important to Vieness to reach both experienced music lovers and people who are new to the music world. A tour of California brought the duo to the stage of the famous Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Beverly Hills Steinway Gallery, Richard Nixon Library, and the Encinitas Library's Wednesday's at Noon series. Vieness will start the 2019/2020 season with Kultur unter'm Dach in Frankfurt, Germany, followed by US performances in Chicago, New York, New Jersey, California, Indiana, Colorado, Oregon, as well as tours of Canada and China.
Eva Schaumkell
German pianist Eva Schaumkell has performed in the United States, the Middle East, and throughout Europe with ‘interpretational skills that combine intuition with analytical sense and remarkable musical maturity.’ Ms. Schaumkell was awarded first prize at the 2018 International James Ramos Video Competition, at the 2014 International Siegfried Weishaupt Piano Competition in Germany, and second prize at the 2015 Coeur d’Alene Young Artist Competition in the U.S. She was also a recipient of prizes at the Thürmer Piano Competition, at the national Jugend Musiziert competition, the Thornton Music Scholarship, the Carl Maria von Weber Scholarship, as well as the Drosihn Förderpreis scholarship.
Ms. Schaumkell has performed in such notable venues in the UK as Steinway Hall London, the Luton Music Club, Buckingham Palace, and at the City of London Festival, as well as Stadthalle Weilburg, Kurhaus Bad Schwalbach, Coselpalais Dresden in Germany, and the MusicAlp Festival in Courchevel, France. Recent hightlights include performances of Schumann’s piano concerto with the London Spring Sinfonia at St. Sepulchre in London, solo recitals at the International Summer Academy of Music in Germany, and a performance of Beethoven’s first piano concerto with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra lead by Maestro Ahmed El Saedi, at the Cairo Opera House in Egypt.
Eva received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Guildhall School in London, her Master’s from the Hochschule für Musik Dresden, and is currently completing a DMA at USC in Los Angeles, studying with renowned pianist and teacher Daniel Pollack.
She has received important artistic guidance from pianists such as Cyprien Katsaris, Pascal Devoyon, Vanessa Latarche, Dmitri Alexeev, Dominique Merlet, Victor Rosenbaum, Ivari Ilja, Norman Krieger, and Jeffrey Kahane.
Vijay Venkatesh
Hailed by the Herald-Tribune for his “dazzling pianism verging on the impossible, effortless technical command and authority with a sense of poetry and refinement that belies his years,” Indian-American pianist Vijay Venkatesh has been recognized as a pianist with profound musicianship, sparkling pianism and an innate sense of partnership.
Venkatesh has rapidly established a major international reputation after winning Gold Medal in the San Jose, Seattle, Zimmerli, World Piano, and Waring International Piano Competitions. Recent and upcoming concerto highlights include performances with Seattle Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Roanoke Symphony, Northern Neck Orchestra, Redlands Symphony, and more. He has performed as soloist with such celebrated conductors as Jeffrey Kahane, Ludovic Morlot, and David Lockington.
He has been honored as a Davidson Fellow Laureate at the Library of Congress, USC Discovery Scholar, Parnassus Society Prize Winner, and Grand Prize Winner of the Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight Awards.
He has performed on NPR’s “From the Top,” Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess series, and as guest artist at the Aspen, Brevard, Banff, Vienna, Sarasota, and Newport Music Festivals.
Originally from California, he holds degrees from USC Thornton and IU Jacobs School of Music, where he was a recipient of the Barbara and David Jacobs Fellowship under the tutelage of Norman Krieger and André Watts. He had previously studied with Jeffrey Kahane and received artistic guidance from Murray Perahia and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. He currently pursues an Artist Diploma at the Colburn School in Los Angeles with Fabio Bidini.