Katia and Marielle Labeque are sibling pianists renowned for their ensemble of synchronicity and energy. Their musical ambitions started at an early age; they rose to international fame with their contemporary rendition of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" (one of the first gold records in classical music) and have since developed a stunning career with performances worldwide.
Fifty-five years after the release of their first recording, Katia and Marielle Labèque are celebrating their extraordinary artistic careers with the album "55", which brings together new recordings and archive recordings spanning more than half a century.
Their debut recording, "Visions de l’Amen", was released in 1970 under the artistic direction of Olivier Messiaen and marked the beginning of one of the most extraordinary careers in contemporary music. Since then, the Labèque sisters have consistently transcended the boundaries between classical music, the contemporary repertoire, jazz, minimal music and popular traditions.
With "55", Katia and Marielle Labèque once again underscore their unflagging curiosity, their commitment to new music and their unique role as bridges between eras, aesthetics and musical traditions. As female composers have been comparatively under-represented in the duo’s catalogue to date, 13 of the 25 new recordings are by ten different female composers.
They have played with the most prestigious orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Filarmonia della Scala, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic , Orchestre de Paris, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Wiener Philharmoniker, under the direction of John Adams, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Gustavo Gimeno, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Pietari Inkinen, Louis Langrée, Zubin Mehta, Juanjo Mena, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Matthias Pintscher, Georges Pretre, Sir Simon Rattle, Santtu Matias Rouvali, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jaap van Zweden.
They have appeared with Baroque music ensembles such as The English Baroque Soloists with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Il Giardino Armonico with Giovanni Antonini, Musica Antica with Reinhard Goebel, and Venice Baroque with Andrea Marcon, il pomo d'oro with Maxim Emelyanichev and also toured with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Sir Simon Rattle.
Katia and Marielle have had the privilege of working with many composers including Thomas Adès, Louis Andriessen, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Bryce Dessner, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, György Ligeti, Nico Muhly and Olivier Messiaen. At Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, they presented the world premiere of Philip Glass's Double Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel and the world premiere of Bryce Dessner's concerto at Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and John Storgards. The concerto "In Certain Circles" written by Nico Muhly was premiered by Orchestre de Paris with Maxim Emelyanichev in 2021 and New York Philharmonic with Jaap van Zweden in 2022 at Carnegie Hall.
The Labèque sisters play at festivals and renowned venues worldwide including the Wiener Musikverein, Hamburger Musikhalle, Isarphilharmonie München, Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, La Scala, Philharmonie Berlin, Blossom, Hollywood Bowl as well as at the BBC Proms and the festivals of Lucerne Ravinia, Tanglewood, and Salzburg. An audience of more than 33,000 attended a gala concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at Berlin's Waldbühne (released on DVD by EuroArts). A record audience of more than 100,000 attended the Wiener Sommernachtskonzert in Schönbrunn (released by Sony on CD and DVD). More than 1.5 million viewers followed the event worldwide on television.
At the invitation of the Philharmonie de Paris for a special "Week End", attention was focused on "Amoria", "Invocations" and their new project for two guitars and two pianos with David Chalmin and Bryce Dessner including a piece written for them by Thom Yorke, "Don’t fear the Light" with the composer as special guest. Their album "Sonic Wires" was released in 2024.