CHRIS HOPKINS meets his PIANO FRIENDS - with a surprise guest of international stature

Swinging jazz duets on two grand pianos:

CHRIS HOPKINS meets his PIANO FRIENDS

>The Great American Songbook - and more!<
from George Gershwin to Duke Ellington

Casually elegant, captivating, entertaining.

Chris Hopkins, born in Princeton, New Jersey and now based in Germany, ranks among the most sought-after musicians on the international jazz scene. Recently he has garnered numerous prestigious awards, including the "Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik" and the "Prix de L'Académie du Jazz (Paris)". He was honoured with the title "Keeper of the Flame" for his contributions to classical jazz in Europe. Over 4,000 concerts and festivals alongside legends such as Clark Terry, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Bucky Pizzarelli, Scott Hamilton and Butch Miles have taken him throughout Europe, to the USA, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Chris Hopkins shares with only a handful of pianists worldwide a special passion for the tradition of swinging jazz piano from Fats Waller through Erroll Garner to Oscar Peterson, and has developed his own musical voice building on these idols. Today there are perhaps only two dozen pianists who master the technically demanding art of this orchestral piano genre, which in duo format creates highly communicative and magical encounters. Each year Hopkins invites a new guest of international stature as a duo partner within his "Piano-Friends" series, performing on two grand pianos.

The programme features style-defining compositions by the old masters as well as cleverly arranged pieces from the swing era and the "Great American Songbook" from George Gershwin to Duke Ellington. This is not a nostalgic retrospective, but rather a contemporary continuation of this fascinating pianistic art form, with tremendous playfulness and great joy in brilliant and captivating improvisation.