Piano at 10 - Daniel Herskovitch and Clemens Leske (duo pianists)

Two of Australia's most respected and loved pianists in a recital of works by Schubert for piano - four hands.

Biographies

Daniel Herscovitch
Daniel Herskovich studied with Alexander Sverjensky at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and then under Rosl Schmid in Munich. While based in Germany, he performed extensively on the continent and in England. He also appeared at several international festivals, including the Berlin Festival, the Zagreb Biennale and the Saarbrücken Tage der Neuen Musik. He toured Australia three times.
Since returning to Australia, he has been active in solo and chamber music and has appeared at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts, the Mostly Mozart Festival, the New Directions Festival and the Festivals of Melbourne and Sydney. Daniel has toured for Musica Viva and also in New Zealand several times. He has been a guest artist with Synergy, Flederman, the Song Company and the Australia Ensemble and has toured with The Seymour Group. He also made regular appearances at Roger Woodward’s Sydney Spring Festival of New Music. He was soloist with Natalia Ricci in the first Sydney performance of the Bartók Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra and later was again one of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s concerto soloists, performing the Mozart Double Concerto with Josephine Allan. Others artists he has appeared with include Wanda Wilkomirska, Michael Kieran Harvey, Jane Manning, Stephanie McCallum, Darryl Poulsen, Ole Böhn and Gerard Willems.
Recently he made his third visit to the US, performing and lecturing from Texas to Washington, DC, and also visited Germany and the UK. In July 2012 he visited Indonesia for a series of piano recitals and masterclasses. Further visits to the US and Europe are planned for 2013/14.
Daniel’s repertoire ranges from Bach to Carter and includes contemporary Australian, Asian, European and American works, several of which he commissioned and premiered. He has also presented papers at conferences in Australia and Europe on ornamentation in Bach and in Beethoven, as well as on practice methods and is sought after as guest lecturer on subjects ranging from baroque performance to Bartók.
His recordings of repertoire ranging from Mozart to Smalley have been released on Tall Poppies, CSM, Continuum, Jade and ABC Classics labels. Three further CDs, including a disc of the Chopin Sonatas, are scheduled.
He is Senior Lecturer in Piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of music

Clemens Leske

One of Australia’s most distinguished pianists, Clemens Leske has been concerto soloist with all of Australia’s symphony orchestras (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Tasmanian, West Australian and Queensland) under such conductors as Vladimir Spivakov, Nicholas Braithwaite, Muhai Tang, Vernon Handley, Raimon Gamba and Tommy Tycho.
During his studies at the Juilliard School, New York, Clemens Leske regularly appeared at Lincoln Center in the famed ‘Bang on a Can’ and ‘Focus’ festivals of contemporary music and won numerous prizes and awards, including the ABC Young Performer of the Year, the David Paul Landa Memorial Scholarship (Australia), and the Hattori Award (London).
Leske has regularly performed with the Australian String Quartet, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Virtuosi and at such festivals as the Barossa International, Huntington, Spring and Adelaide. He was soloist with the Bangkok Symphony performing the Schumann piano concerto for the King of Thailand’s birthday concert.
In May 2005 Leske gave his London debut in the Royal Festival Hall, performing Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As a result of this success, he was invited to perform Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Eastbourne Festival in February 2008.
His many other engagements have included appearances as soloist with the Sydney Symphony at Angel Place and the Opera House, performing Mozart’s K413 Piano Concerto; and a national tour with the very successful “Steinway Spectacular” stage show.
Leske has released three discs of solo piano and chamber music and has recorded extensively for Australian radio stations ABC-FM, 2MBS and 5UV.
He is currently Lecturer in Keyboard at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.