The concept of a dream team is realised in this granite duo. John Storgårds, now primarily known as a conductor, and piano titan Kirill Gerstein have joined forces to present a programme that has been honed to perfection on the international stage and received rave reviews.

Storgårds first met Kirill Gerstein—a multiple award-winning pianist and one of the world’s most sought-after musicians—in the spring of 2013, when Gerstein appeared as a soloist in a concert conducted by Storgårds in Indianapolis. “We clicked musically right away,” Storgårds says. Since that first meeting, their collaboration has continued in numerous concerts in Finland, elsewhere in the Nordic countries, Europe, the United States, and Canada.

“All the compositions of our program were written within a span of just under 30 years, from 1886 to 1914. That is why it is astonishing how great the stylistic diversity of the works is. Each is powerful and intense in its own way, while also representing the great upheavals and movements of change in its own era, which also affected the arts,” says John Storgårds about the evening’s program.

The friends’ exceptionally successful collaboration continues in both orchestral and chamber music, although due to challenges in scheduling, there are as yet no plans for their next duo performance after Helsinki. The Helsinki Seriös concert is therefore a unique opportunity to hear this duo perform in a long while!