Stichting Piano! Piano! Wednesday 22 July 2026 at 8:00pm

Pierre Bennett

BIOGRAPHY

Pierre Bennett’s piano playing reflects a rich tapestry of cultures and diverse experiences, spanning the Balkans, Italy, France and the Netherlands. Born in Brussels, this French-British-Croatian-Slovenian pianist is pursuing his musical education in several European institutions.

Pierre has just completed a year at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP) studying with Emmanuel Strosser and Lidija Bizjak. He is also studying at the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale "Incontri col Maestro" in Imola, Italy, with André Gallo and Marlies van Gent. He is now entering the final year at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag.

Pierre discovered the piano at the age of eight at the Mladen Pozajić Music School in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. There, he met Planinka Jurišić-Atić from the Konservatorij za glasbo in balet Maribor in Slovenia, who guided him through his early years. He participated in various competitions across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia, where he won his first prizes.

At the age of 15, he joined the Young Talent programme at the Koninklijk Conservatorium, studying with Marlies van Gent. He also developed an interest in chamber music, forming a piano trio with violin and cello.

In 2024, he received the City of Imola Piano Prize along with a scholarship and became a laureate of the Vítězslav Novák International Competition in Kamenice nad Lipou, Czechia. He has performed as a soloist in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Croatia, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Serbia and Slovenia.

PROGRAMME: Introspection and effervescence

This recital charts a course through four works. It begins dramatically, continues with a demanding, poetic exploration, and concludes with a heroic piece that reflects both the turmoil and the hope of a rapidly changing era.

The journey begins with Joseph Haydn, who composed some sixty piano sonatas, of which only one is in C-sharp minor Hob. XVI:36. It is a rare key that carries a restrained tension, foreshadowing future developments in Romanticism.

With his Variations sérieuses, Felix Mendelssohn presents a work that opens with a noble, austere theme in the spirit of a chorale. This theme gives rise to seventeen variations with a striking dramatic progression. It speaks of memory, consciously situating itself within the Bach-Beethoven lineage while pursuing a more intimate quest through the expressive possibilities of the variation form.

In a more inward-looking mood, Leoš Janáček sketches personal, evocative images. The Madonna of Frýdek and The Little Owl Has Not Flown Away from the cycle On an Overgrown Path are inspired by childhood memories, family dramas, and rural scenes, much like recollections jotted in a notebook.

With his Sonata eroica, Vítězslav Novák, a composer still too rarely heard, constructs a political narrative that chronologically traces a people's past glory, present oppression, and hope for a better future. This dense, contrasting work draws on the melodies and rhythms of Slovak and Moravian folk music and dance, fusing folk heritage with post-Romantic composition.

PROGRAMME; Introspection and effervescence

Joseph Haydn |1732 – 1809 – Sonata C-sharp minor, Hob. XVI:36 | ca. 1777/79

Moderato

Scherzando

Menuet andTrio

Felix Mendelssohn |1809 – 1847 - Variations sérieuses, op. 54 | 1841

Theme: Andante sostenuto

Variation 1

Variation 2: Un poco più animato

Variation 3: Più animato

Variation 4

Variation 5: Agitato

Variation 6: A tempo

Variation 7: Con fuoco

Variation 8: Allegro vivace

Variation 9

Variation 10: Moderato

Variation 11: Cantabile

Variation 12: Tempo del Tema

Variation 13: Sempre assai leggiero

Variation 14: Adagio

Variation 15: Poco a poco più agitato

Variation 16: Allegro vivace

Variation 17

Coda: Presto

Leoš Janáček |1854 - 1928 – On an overgrown path | 1901

The Madonna of Frýdek

The barn owl has not flown away

Vítězslav Novák |1870 – 1949 - Sonata eroica, op. 24 | 1900

Allegro patetico

Andante mesto – Allegro energico