Duo Berlinskaia Ancelle
Various projects
Full Biography
PIANO DUO

Pianists with respective solo careers, Ludmila Berlinskaya and Arthur Ancelle started concertizing as a piano duet in 2011.
Often portrayed as a kind of « bicephalous animal », the duet is an ideal meeting of two musicians that understand each other perfectly on stage as well as on every aspect of life ; they are invited by prestigious festivals, such as the Pianofolies du Touquet in France, the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad in Switzerland, the December Nights Festival in Moscow, the Tokyo Spring Festival, the Rota das Artes festival in Lisbon ; they perform every year in many of Russia’s most prestigious halls and with orchestras in Europe and Asia, including the Saint Petersburg’s Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a duet, they recorded three albums, devoted to the music of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Liszt, each of which featured world premieres ; all recordings received critical acclaim and awards from renowned magazines such as Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, Diapason, Classica, Pianiste...
At the root of many artistic projects that bring together the arts, Ludmila Berlinskaya and Arthur Ancelle have, for example, gathered around them the greatest Russian soloists, ballet star Sergei Polunin and Gerard Depardieu for a concert of ‘bohemian mood’ in Moscow combining music, dance, theatre and light that was one of the ‘must see’ of a recent Muscovite season.
Both piano teachers in the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris - Alfred Cortot, Ludmila Berlinskaya and Arthur Ancelle are also artistic directors of a music festival ‘La Clé des Portes’ that takes place within the delightful surroundings of the Loire Valley.
In 2017, they presented the world-premiere recording of the infamous Liszt Sonata, transcribed for 2 pianos by Camille Saint-Saëns, and this album was Gramophone’s  Editor’s Choice.

LUDMILA BERLINSKAYA, piano

“Honoured Artist of Russia”, Soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic, first prize winner at every international competition she participated in, Ludmila Berlinskaia played on the most prestigious stages in the world, including the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, the Barbican and the Royal Albert Hall in London, la Fenice in Venice, the Royal Academy of Brussels, the National Auditorium in Madrid, the City Hall of Hong Kong, St. Petersburg Philharmony and all major halls of Moscow, where she grew up.

She is regularly invited to prestigious festivals such as La Roque d’Anthéron, Colmar, Auvers sur Oise, Aix en Provence, Evian, Kuhmo, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Orlando, Stavanger, Portogruaro Festivals etc.

She is a highly sought-after chamber music performer. Her partners include Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Bashmet, Viktor Tretyakov, Alexander Knyazev, Paul Meyer, Gerard Causse, Ivry Gitlis, Gautier Capuçon, Jean-Jacques Kantorow Henry Demarquette, Alain Meunier, François-René Duchâble, and nearly a thousand concerts in quintet with the Borodin, Orlando, Fine Arts, Ardeo, Danel, St. Petersburg Quartets etc..

Raised among the Soviet cultural elite, her father being the cellist Valentin Berlinsky, founder of the legendary Borodin Quartet, Ludmila Berlinskaia brilliantly completed her studies at the Gnessine Institute and the Moscow Conservatory.

She especially enjoyed a unique environment in the midst of the greatest artists.  Immersed since childhood in the music of Shostakovich, she is now considered one of its finest performers. She plays all over the world his entire chamber music repertoire with piano, including rare and unpublished works.

Above all, she was fortunate to be part of a close circle around the pianist Sviatoslav Richter. She had the privilege to play with him, to replace him for his own production of Benjamin Britten’s Turn of the Screw and to benefit from his attentive guidance to her artistic freedom.

Ludmila Berlinskaia has recorded several albums of works by Rachmaninov, Glinka, Schnittke, Mendelssohn, Janacek, Strauss and Tchaikovsky with Virgin Classics and Saphir Productions.

ARTHUR ANCELLE, piano

Arthur Ancelle was the youngest student to attend the harmony class in the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris – Alfred Cortot at the age of seven.
Holder of an Artist Diploma from the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, he won numerous international competitions in France, Russia, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Australia, which earned him to be invited to play in several of the greatest halls in the world, such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Philharmonic Halls of St. Petersburg and Moscow, Wigmore Hall, Salle Cortot and Salle Gaveau in Paris.
He received special awards for his interpretations of contemporary works and enjoys exporting French contemporary music on four continents (Dutilleux, Mantovani, Hersant…) or bringing American contemporary music to the French public (Corigliano, Rzewski, Currier).
Arthur Ancelle gained special recognition for his talent as a transcriber, with remarked transcriptions of Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice for solo piano, or Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini for two pianos. The latter, recorded with Saphir Productions, was also published by Jurgenson Editions in the main collection of Tchaikovsky’s works.
More recently, he conceived an original Suite for two pianos from the ballet Roméo & Juliette by Prokofiev, published by the Editions Le Chant du Monde in 2013 and recorded by the duo.
His first solo album was released on April 2016 by "Melodiya". It reunites piano works by Chopin and Henri Dutilleux.


2018/2019
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