14 October 2008

The program consists of selected work by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Serge Rachmaninov, Claude Debussy and Edward Grieg. The musical program they have selected is a fine mixture of romantic and impressionistic music – a selection well suited to the Blue Lagoon‘s unique atmosphere.

Tchaikovsky is significant for the musical couple in more than one way. Hamsa Al-Wadi Juris a native of Syria and Carlos Juris a native of Ecuador met while both were students and the acclaimed Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music Moscow. The couple‘s love story is mirrored in their romantic approach to the music.

Carlos and Hamsa Juris hold a Master’s Degree and a post-graduate aspirantura degree from the Moscow Conservatory. Their teacher was Pavel Messner, former pupil and chief assistant to Emil Gilels (1916 1985). After completing their studies at the conservatory they settled in Finland where they teach at the Helsinki Sibelius Academy and the Espoo Music College. They are active as recitalists, chamber musicians and soloists with orchestra. Their duo activity was launched in 1983 during the Moscow Conservatory’s series of historical concerts dedicated to German piano music of the 20th century. The American composer Claire Polin (1926-1995) dedicated to them her Phantasmagoria in 1989 (published in 1993 by Sisra Publications/Arsis Press, Washington D.C.), which the couple has premièred in Ecuador, Finland, the former Soviet Union and Sweden. At the I. International Piano Duo Festival held in former Leningrad in 1990, the newspaper Pravda awarded them the special prize “for faithfulness to the Russian piano school’s traditions of interpretation.”  In December 1996 they appeared for the first time in Vilnius, and since April 1997 they are regular guests at the International Piano Duo Festival Shiauliai in Lithuania. They gave the South-American première of Max Bruch’s Two-Piano Concerto Op.88a in Quito, in December of 1997 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ecuador. Early 2001 saw their first joint appearance in the USA.

The concert is a unique opportunity to experience the classical music while enjoying the Blue Lagoon’s romantic and natural setting.