Chicago Duo Piano Festival Celebrates 37 Years
July13-20, 2025
June 26th, 2025
The Music Institute of Chicago presents the 37th year of the Chicago Duo Piano Festival beginning July 13 and running through July 20. The festival features four public concerts and a master class.
Public Events Schedule
All events take place at:
Nichols Concert Hall
1490 Chicago Avenue, Evanston
General Admission: $30
Chicago Duo Piano Festival participants and MIC students: free
Sunday, July 13 at 3 PM
Gala Opening Concert: Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem
Festival Co-Founders and Music Institute Piano Duo in Residence Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem kick off the Festival with Liszt’s Don Juan Fantasy and other works for four hands by Mozart, Schubert, Debussy, and Ravel.
Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem are among the most accomplished and acclaimed piano duos of their generation. Described as“consummate practitioners of pianism” (The Washington Post) they met in Italy in 1970 as young solo performers at a music festival in Umbria, were married in 1973 and have devoted themselves to the exclusive study of the duo repertoire since 1981. In 2020, Aebersold and Neiweem were awarded the inaugural career achievement award in Piano Duo by the Josef and Rosina Lhévinne Legacy Foundation. The duo are founders and directors of the NEA award-winning Chicago Duo Piano Festival, held annually at the Music Institute of Chicago and the Chicago International Duo Piano Competition.
They have appeared with orchestras internationally, including the Chicago Philharmonic and the Vienna Tonkünstler, and performed in recitals throughout the U.S. and Europe. They have commissioned significant new works for the piano duo, including pieces by Joseph Turrin and Patrick Byers. The duo’s CDs on the Summit label include Four Hand Reflections and music of Brahms and Schubert.
Tuesday, July 15 at 7 PM
Faculty Extravaganza
Music Institute piano faculty perform a mixed program of works for piano duo, including music by Beethoven, Schubert, Rachmaninoff, Florence Price, Gershwin, and Lutoslawski. Faculty duos include Marie Alatalo and Ann Chang, Soo Young Lee and Jeong-Min Lee, Soo Young Lee and Lisa Zilberman, Inah Chiu and Sung Hoon Mo, Brenda Huang and Alexander Djordjevic, Mio Isoda and Matthew Hagle, and Louise Chan and Susan Tang.
Friday, July 18 at 7 PM
Duo TURGEON
Join the critically acclaimed Duo Turgeon for a sparkling duo piano program. Regarded as one of the top piano duos of our time, the Turgeons have given hundreds of performances, including their European debut at the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam and New York debut at Weill Recital Hall.
Duo Turgeon will perform works by Brahms, Dvorák, Debussy, and Rachmaninoff and “Winter at Gros Cap” by Anne Louise-Turgeon.
Saturday, July 13 at 10 AM
Guest Duo Master Class: DUO TURGEON
Sunday, July 20 at 2 PM
Final Student Concert
Free and open to the public.
About the Chicago Duo Piano Festival
Called a “duo piano mecca” by Pioneer Press, the world-renowned Chicago Duo Piano Festival was founded in 1988 by Music Institute of Chicago faculty members and Piano Duo in Residence Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem. Its mission is to foster a deeper interest in the repertoire, performance, and teaching of music for piano, four hands and two pianos, in a fun and supportive atmosphere. The Festival offers summer and winter events, which include coachings, master classes, concerts with special guest artists, and student recitals for students youth through adult. In addition, the festival organizes periodic duo piano competitions that draw young professionals from around the world.