Duo to create 'four-hand' piano sound at concert

One of the joys of my musical childhood was attending concerts by the renowned duo-pianists Ferrante and Teicher during their annual national tours.

That same unique sound, the one that comes from piano-four hands, will be on display this weekend when the Chicago-area duo of Svetlana Belsky and Jennifer Maxwell perform at 7 p.m. Saturday as part of the Brookdale Music Concert Series in Naperville.

On the program will be Francis Poulenc's Sonata, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Suite, Op. 11, in six movements; Franz Schubert's Fantasy in F Minor, and a special four-hands arrangement of three movements from Igor Stravinsky's high-energy ballet, "Petrouchka."

"We have actually made it even more athletic by taking the best parts of the solo, duet and two-piano versions and creating our own unique arrangement," said Belsky of the Stravinsky work.

Belsky, coordinator of piano studies at the University of Chicago, studied under the renowned area pedagogue Emilio Del Rosario and eventually went on to earn her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Her bachelor and master's degree are from Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory of Music. Maxwell earned her bachelor's degree from University of Iowa School of Music and her master's from the University of Louisville School of Music.

Saturday's concert will also feature the premiere of a new work by fellow University of Chicago musician William White, titled "Desiderata," written especially for the Belsky-Maxwell Duo. White will introduce his composition.

The Belsky-Maxwell Duo has performed throughout the Chicago area, playing works (originally written for four-hands or arrangements) by such composers as Schubert, Debussy, Barber, Poulenc, Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky, along with newly commissioned works.

Tickets for Saturday's concert are $12, and $8 for students. The Brookdale Music Recital Hall is located in the Pebblewood Plaza at 1550 N. Rt. 59, in Naperville. Tickets can be reserved by calling (630) 983-5100, or visiting www.brookdalemusic.com.