Saturday 8th February 2025 1:45pm – 2:30pm
Luna Piano Duo – Graziana Pressice and Amy Butler
Programme
Gioachino Rossini, arr. Arnold Schönberg Overture to ‘The Barber of Seville’
Eduardo Burnay, arr. Sandy Clark Fado Burnay
Lester Hough Concertante (World Premiere)
Sérgio Azevedo Les Promenades (selection)
i. Promenade
ii. Lisboa: Helena e Arpad
iii. Dreaming of St Petersburg
George Gershwin, arr. Henry Levine Rhapsody in Blue
Background
The Luna Piano Duo is a recently established ensemble, although individually both Amy Butler and Graziana Presicce have been performing on numerous occasions and contexts. The piano duet was formed not long after their very first meeting – the recording of an online concert during lockdown. Both their friendship and musical collaboration grew since. The duet was thrilled to receive a special commission through Howdenshire Music, premiering a new work by York-based rising talent Frederick Viner, Fado Fantasy, in a sold-out event celebrating the ancient friendship between England and Portugal. Other performance appearances include Hornsea Music Society; Bournville Lunchtime Concerts; York Unitarian Concerts; and Humber Street Piano Sessions (Hull). The Duo is currently working towards their first recording and release in 2025.
Biographies
Amy Butler studied with British concert pianist Martin Roscoe and gained a First Class Master’s degree from the University of Oxford. She has a particular passion for chamber music and especially enjoys working collaboratively with other musicians. Regular duo partners include award-winning artists: violinist Boglárka György, flautist Chris Hill and tenor Steven Goulden. Amy has performed extensively for many venues and music societies across the UK, with recent highlights including Stratford-upon-Avon Music Society, Wye Valley Chamber Music, North Westmorland Arts, Warwick Arts Centre, Weymouth Chamber Concerts, St. Mary’s Perivale, the Eric Coates Society and the Guild of Musicians and Singers (London).
“…this was a rewarding recital of great musical integrity in which the players’ virtuosity and technical skill was directed towards realising the composers’ intentions” – Paul Conway, Musical Opinion.
Amy is a staff pianist for the East Riding Music Hub and accompanist for Beverley Male Voice Choir and Snaith & District Choral Society. She is also a co-founder of Howdenshire Music, a classical concert series based in Howden, East Yorkshire.
Graziana Presicce is an Italian pianist based in Yorkshire. She completed a scholarship-funded PhD in Music Performance at the University of Hull (2020). Graziana graduated in 2012 with a First Class BA Music Degree at the University of Hull, where she was awarded the Sir Thomas Beecham Music Scholarship and Special Prize in Music. The friendly atmosphere and the privilege to study piano under the guidance of Irina Glushenkova encouraged her to pursue her studies in Hull further, completing a Master course with Distinction (2014). As a performer, Graziana actively engages in recitals, both as a soloist as well as accompanist. In March 2017, she performed what is believed to be the recorded premiere of works by the Hull-born composer Ethel Leginska, alongside baritone Lee Tsang. The events, part of Women of the World Festival and Hull City of Culture 2017, were also featured on BBC Radio 3’s Music Matters.
Graziana is grateful to be a Launchpad 2022 supported artist and to be the recipient of the St. Hugh’s Foundation‘s Artists Respond award. She has had the pleasure of performing as part of the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra on various occasions and was delighted to be invited as soloist at their May 2023 performance.
Next week’s concert – Duo Aerius, Guitar and Violin