The Meeks Duo: Scott Meek, piano; Clare Yuan, piano
Sunday, April 12 at 2:30 pm
VENUE: St Michael’s Church, Chemainus
Please note that this concert starts at 2:30pm
Recognized for their ground-breaking inventiveness and diverse repertoire, Scott Meek and Clare Yuan return with a program of music arranged for piano duo. Scott has published more than one hundred piano duet arrangements, many of which they have performed across Canada and Asia. With warmth and humour, Scott and Clare inform and entertain with stories and anecdotes, truly making each performance a uniquely enjoyable experience for their audience.
Programme
La donna è mobile, from Rigoletto, Act III — Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) (arr. Scott Meek)Nessun dorma, from Turandot, Act III — Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) (arr. Scott Meek)
Serenade (Ständchen), D889 — Franz Schubert (1797-1828)/Franz Liszt (1811-1886) (arr. Scott Meek)
Over the Rainbow — Harold Arlen (1905-1986) (arr. Scott Meek)
Another Day of Sun — Justin Hurwitz (1985- ) (arr. Scott Meek)
Legend of Ashitaka — Joe Hisaishi (1950- ) (arr. Scott Meek)
Summer — Joe Hisaishi (1950- ) (arr. Scott Meek)
Invierno Porteño (Winter), from The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires — Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) (arr. Kyoko Yamamoto)
Libertango — Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) (arr. Kyoko Yamamoto)
Firebird Suite, K010 — Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) (arr. Scott Meek)
Danse infernale
Berceuse
FinaleHappy Birthday, Rachmaninoff! — Scott Meek
Pas de deux, from The Nutcracker — Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) (arr. Scott Meek)
Polovtsian Dances, from Prince Igor, Act II — Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) (arr. Scott Meek)
Background information
The Meeks Duo (married Canadian pianists Scott Meek and Clare Yuan) is recognized for its groundbreaking inventiveness and uniquely diverse repertoire for piano duet. Scott and Clare’s concert programs feature their own creative transformations of classical pieces into anything from Happy Birthday to Japanese pop, as well as standard duet repertoire and works by living composers. Scott has over 100 piano duet arrangements and the number keeps growing!
The Meeks Duo’s music has been played on CBC and Fairchild Radio, and their albums are available worldwide all streaming platforms. Keen on promoting living composers and arrangers, Clare and Scott have had several new works and arrangements written for them, and they often perform works by lesser-known and female composers.
As members of their community, Clare and Scott raised funds for local flood relief from the sale of their Christmas album, and performed several months of weekly live-streamed recitals at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, to entertain audiences worldwide during the lockdown period.
Clare and Scott have performed at such prestigious venues as the Taiwan National Concert Hall (Taipei, Taiwan), the Kay Meek Centre (North Vancouver, Canada) and the Vancouver Playhouse (Vancouver, Canada), as well as at museums, art galleries, private residences, universities, churches, and outdoor performances.
Playing the piano together was how Scott and Clare first met, and they formed The Meeks Duo shortly after they got married in 2013. They love the unique closeness of two musicians sharing a single instrument, and aspire to share this love of four-hand piano music with you!