Dranoff presents “Bang The Ivories”

Sat, Mar 28 - Sat, Mar 28  2015

The Dranoff continues in its 28th Season of 2 piano masters with “Bang the Ivories”.
On Saturday, March 28th at 8:00 pm, Dranoff 2 Piano presents critically-acclaimed percussionists Colin Currie and Benjamin Ramirez joining world-renowned pianists Maarten van Veen and Ralph van Raat at  the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, in a concert titled “Bang the Ivories”. The program features both new and contemporary classical music encompassing the masterpieces for 2 pianos and percussion of great past and living composers of classical music, played by internationally-acclaimed artists, Colin Currie, Benjamin Ramirez, Maarten van Veen and Ralph van Raat. This concert will include works for everything from piano duo to percussion duo, as well as quartet works for 2 pianos and percussion.
The concert will present the well-known Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion by Béla Bartók, a new work by David Maric titled Trophic Cascades, as well as the performance of a new commission from percussionist Colin Currie,  “Realismos Magicos” for solo marimba, by Rolf Wallin. For the occasion of “Bang the Ivories”, the quartet will be performing a new arrangement by Artistic Director Erik Ochsner, of Gavin Bryars’s Sketch for Sub-Rosa.
Both Maarten van Veen and Ralph van Raat tour across Europe, performing two-piano music on behalf of the DeDoelen Ensemble, of which Maarten is the Artistic Director.

Ralph van Raat

Ralph van Raat has been completely fascinated by classical music of the twentieth century since the age of 14. Although his repertoire ranges from Bach to Boulez, his primary focus has always been on composers dating from Debussy, Bartók and Ives to present day masters. His aim is to convince his audiences of the immense beauty and diversity of music of our own time through solo recitals, lecture-recitals, concerto performances, CD-releases and special projects. Van Raat helps audiences identify with modern day composers by adhering to a classical approach: he firmly believes that a strong sense of classical structure as well as a refinement of tone is essential in conveying the logic and poetry of any music, certainly including his repertoire of choice.

Maarten van Veen

Pianist and conductor Maarten van Veen comes from a musical family and started playing the piano at a young age . He studied at the conservatories of Utrecht, Prague and finalized his study in Amsterdam (Sweelinck Conservatory). During the conservatory curriculum he was early to specialize himself in the performance of contemporary music besides the classical repertoire. Van Veen studied with Alwin Bär, Kyoko Hashimoto, Ton Hartsuiker and György Sebök. He studied at the Mozart Academy with Oleg Maisenberg, Ivan Klánsky, David Golub and Leonid Hambro.

Dranoff International 2 Piano Foundation, Miami’s Gateway to the World of Music

For 29 years, the Dranoff International 2 Piano Foundation has been the world’s leading organization to champion exclusively two piano repertoire and artistry. It is the only international foundation, accredited by the World Federation of International Music Competitions, to discover, promote, and award honors to top professional duo piano artists through its competition, commissions, and presentations of duo piano concerts. The Dranoff promotes awareness to a new generation of students of the transformational power of music and the arts through its multi-disciplinary, educational, and inspirational concert program, Piano Slam.