Leslie Howard & Yichen Yu - Piano SOLO & FOUR HANDS

CLASSICAL-D PIANO FESTIVAL 2026

LESLIE HOWARD & YICHEN YU

Piano SOLO & FOUR HANDS

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Hao Yao

LESLIE HOWARD

“The experience is beyond compare…his technique and taste are faultless, and his consistency, intelligence and brio create a towering monument to the music” - Diapason, France.

Following his hugely successful 70th birthday concert in 2018, Leslie Howard returned to Wigmore Hall in 2019, celebrating 45 years of playing at this, his favourite venue. In the words of Director John Gilhooly, “Thank you, Leslie, for your many fine recitals at Wigmore Hall for over four decades. It has always been a great joy to hear your performances.” 2019 also saw the release of one further CD of hitherto unrecorded pieces by Liszt, finally bringing the total to 100, and so extending the already unequalled accomplishment of the largest solo artist recording project in the history of classical music. This critically acclaimed project merited Leslie Howard’s entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, six Grands Prix du Disque, the Medal of St. Stephen, the Pro Cultura Hungarica award and a mounted bronze cast of Liszt’s hand presented by the Hungarian President.

Leslie Howard has balanced his prodigious recording career with an international concert itinerary which has seen him performing regularly throughout the world for more than half a century, always with a repertoire that seeks to extend the audience’s experience and to challenge accepted hierarchies of received wisdom. He has appeared regularly with the world’s finest orchestras and has also pursued a distinguished career as a chamber musician, partnering many of the greatest solo musicians and ensembles of our time.

YICHEN YU

Born in 2002, Yichen Yu began studying the piano at the age of four. He is currently pursuing his graduate studies in the Piano Department of the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM). He is the winner of the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition in London (2026).

As a young concert pianist, Yu has performed extensively across Europe, Asia, and North America, appearing in the United Kingdom, Italy, the United States, Germany, Russia, Spain, Poland, Bulgaria, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as in major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. He has performed with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov”, Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Irkutsk Symphony Orchestra, Torun Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Henan Symphony Orchestra, Cross Strait Art Youth United Symphony Orchestra, Central Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra and Youth Symphony Orchestra of Central Conservatory of music, under conductors such as Lavard Skou-Larsen, Alexander Sladkovsky, llmar Lapins, Przemysław Fiugajski, Jakub Chrenowicz, Tsanislav Petkov, Stefan Vladar, Christian Ehwald, Simeon Pironkov, Daye Lin, Yang Yang, Renchang Fu, Lin Chen, Huan Jing, Danwen Wei and Peng Tuo.

Yichen Yu is an artist of Classical-D Music. Grand galop chromatique, S.219

Programme

Moritz Moszkovski

5 Spanish Dances, Op. 12

Franz Liszt

Grand galop chromatique, S. 219

Leslie Howard & Yichen Yu, piano

-Intermission-

Franz Liszt

Großes Konzertsolo, S. 176

Leslie Howard, piano

Franz Liszt

Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418

Yichen Yu, piano