Pleyel Piano Recital Series featuring WESTHUIZEN DUO

About this Program:

Pierre and Sophié van der Westhuizen have been hailed by audiences and critics alike for their “...excellent sensitivity for each other, combined with playing that is charming, lyrical, and brilliant.”

They reside in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Pierre is the Executive and Artistic Director of the Gilmore International Piano Festival and Award. Sophié is on the faculty of Kalamazoo College, Western Michigan University, and teaches at the Interlochen Arts Camp in the summer.

About our Pleyel Piano:

Our Pleyel Piano is a vintage instrument built in 1879. It is a particularly special piano that offers a unique and intimate recital experience. The Dixon family kindly donated this piano.

Pleyel et Cie. ("Pleyel and Company") is a French piano manufacturing firm founded by composer Ignace Pleyel in 1807. This company provided pianos to the renowned composer Frédéric Chopin, who considered Pleyel pianos to be the "non plus ultra" (the highest point to be obtained). Pleyel et Cie. also operated a concert hall, the Salle Pleyel, where Chopin performed his first and last Paris concerts.

Pleyel's major contribution to piano development was the first use of a metal frame in a piano. Pleyel pianos were the preferred choice of composers such as Chopin, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, de Falla and Stravinsky. Pianists and teachers such as Alfred Cortot, Philip Manuel, and Gavin Williamson also preferred Pleyel pianos.

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