“Magic for Four Hands”

On July 10, pianists Augustė and Ieva Petkūnaitė will gift the listeners of Paliesius Manor a magnificent piano duo program, “Magic for Four Hands”!

The sisters will play four hands at a single piano, revealing the possibilities of musical performance as a pair—a genre that holds a special place in their hearts. The pianists have carefully selected four works for piano four hands that unfold the rich and varied musical possibilities of two artists making music at one instrument.

Arriving from Salzburg, the city of Mozart, they will share the music of this genius composer with the audience. The bright, playful, and elegant W. A. Mozart “Sonata in D major”, KV. 381, for piano four hands will open the concert. This piece beautifully illuminates the early history of the piano duo genre, when such music was still played in intimate salons. Mozart himself performed it with his sister, Maria Anna Mozart. Throughout the work, one can hear an abundance of playful musical motifs and dialogues that create the harmonious sound of a piano duo.

F. Schubert’s “Fantasy in F minor”, D 940, is one of his most famous and important works for piano four hands and is considered a masterpiece of the piano duo repertoire. This “Fantasy” was composed in 1828, during the final year of Schubert’s life, and belongs to his late creative period. The Fantasy itself consists of four movements (Allegro molto moderato – Largo – Allegro vivace – Allegro moderato), which are played without pause, the transitions between them almost imperceptible. One only notices the shifting character of the music. This unique structural choice by Schubert allows the listener to immerse themselves in an unbroken musical narrative. Interestingly, after a long journey of musical dramaturgy, the piece concludes with the same theme heard at the very beginning, as if waking from a dream. It is not without reason that this Fantasy is considered one of Schubert’s greatest works—it leaves no listener indifferent.

French impressionist M. Ravel’s “Rapsodie espagnole” transports the listener into a magical, spirited, and immensely colorful world. Originally composed for symphony orchestra in 1908, the composer himself later wrote a version for piano duo. The “Rapsodie espagnole” consists of four movements: “Prélude à la nuit”, “Malagueña”, “Habanera”, and “Feria”. The piece is woven entirely from an impressionistic palette of colors and the rhythms of Spanish dances. Interestingly, Ravel composed this masterpiece before he had ever visited Spain. Yet Spanish melodies and rhythms were not foreign to him: his mother was of Spanish descent and would sing Spanish songs to him before he fell asleep as a child.

At the close of the evening, C. Czerny’s “Grande Sonate in F minor, Op. 178” will sound. This is a virtuosic, passionate, and tempestuous sonata that demands an extraordinary harmony between the two performers. The four-movement “Grande Sonate in F minor” belongs to a group of Czerny’s concert works composed specifically for piano duo. It is distinguished by the composer’s special ability to reveal an extraordinary variety of musical expression when music is performed by four hands.

Twin sisters Augustė and Ieva Petkūnaitė—Piano Duo Petkunaite—were born in Klaipėda in 1998. In 2025, they completed their piano performance studies at the Freiburg University of Music in Germany (Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, under Prof. Christoph Sischka). Since 2025, they have been studying piano duo performance at the Mozarteum University Salzburg in Austria (under Prof. Andreas Groethuysen and Yaara Tal).

Their piano duo has won first prize in eight international competitions. In 2019, they earned first prize at the 19th Schubert Piano Duo Competition (XXI. Schubert-Wettbewerb) in the Czech Republic (under-21 category). In 2020, they won first prize at the international “Gianluca Campochiaro” competition in Sicily in the piano four hands category, and second prize as the best piano duo at the Ilmari-Hannikainen Chamber Music Competition in Finland. In October 2020, they took first prize at the 9th International “Persecuted Composers Music” Interpretation Competition (Interpretationswettbewerb Verfemte Musik) in Germany. In November 2024, they won first prize with the maximum score (Primo Premio Assoluto) in the piano four hands category at the 33rd International Piano Competition “ROMA” in Rome.

The piano duo has performed in Lithuania, Germany, Finland, the Czech Republic, and Italy. In 2023, Augustė and Ieva Petkūnaitė played in the “Cognito” concert series organized with the Yamaha Music Europe Foundation, and in October 2024 at the opening celebration of the Brahms Festival at the Freiburg Theater. They have also performed with the Jyväskylä (Finland) and Kaunas Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Munich Chamber Orchestra (Germany). The duo reached the semifinals at the 70th ARD International Music Competition in Munich.