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Music Monday | When Two Pianos Meet an Orchestra | July 27, 2026
- Jul 27
- 1 min read
When Two Pianos Meet an Orchestra
Francis Poulenc composed his Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in 1932 thanks to a commission from the Princess de Polignac, one of the great arts patrons of Paris. It was a romp from the start: witty, irreverent, full of jazz inflections and music hall charm, with a second movement of such unexpected tenderness that audiences hardly knew what had hit them. Poulenc himself said he wanted it to be “gay and not profound.” He succeeded spectacularly.
The piece is also one of the great showcases for two-piano teamwork with orchestra, demanding not just technical partnership between the two pianists but a third voice that is equal and responsive to the full ensemble around them. It takes a duo of real caliber to pull it off.
Stanislava Varshavski and Diana Shapiro of the Varshavski-Shapiro Piano Duo are precisely that. Formed in 1998 at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy, the duo has since won prizes across three continents, earning Second Prize at the Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition right here in Miami in 2005. They are part of our own history. Here they are with the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos that is as sparkling as the composer could have hoped.
