Shakespeare inspires Piano

Kiyotaka Izumi
Sun 23/01/2022 - 11:00

Ticket prices

€ 12 - check our reductions

William Shakespeare’s influence reaches far beyond plays. Countless composers have drawn inspiration from his dramatic characters and story lines. Japanese-Flemish pianist Kiyotaka Izumi transcribed this music for solo piano and shows genuine respect for the original and immense empathy for the tragic human condition.

Beethoven wrote 32 piano sonatas which are often considered as one of the highlights of his oeuvre. Nowhere did his passion and yearning for understanding sound more intensely than on his piano. According to his secretary, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.17 was inspired by Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.

Tchaikovsky also drew upon Shakespeare’s oeuvre. For example, he set Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest to music, and wrote a score for the play Hamlet. Without a doubt, Tchaikovsky read the Bard of Avon’s work and saw it performed in Saint Petersburg. The atmosphere of tension and conflict has never been expressed as powerfully as in this Hamlet score.

Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s best-known drama, also inspired Sergei Prokofiev. He composed no fewer than three suites for the ballet based on this story, in which he strikingly expresses the happiness and sorrow caused by love. Love, animosity, struggle and of course the famous balcony scene are all represented in Prokofiev’s ballet suite, transcribed for solo piano.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 17 in d, op. 31/2 ‘Tempest
  • Pjotr Iljitsj Tsjaikovski, Ouverture from Hamlet, op.67 (arr. Kiyotaka Izumi)
  • Sergej Prokofiev, a selection from the ballet suite Romeo and Juliet, op.75

More info

www.kiyotakaizumi.com

piano Kiyotaka Izumi photo Sara De Graeve