Pianists Emma Abbate and Julian Perkins come together on their latest release, ‘Tournament for Twenty Fingers’, to take on the contemporary works for piano duet by composers including Lennox Berkeley, Richard Arnell, Stephen Dodgson and Constant Lambert.

The married duo, who are both renowned soloists in their own right, have have extensive decorated careers in music.Described as “an amazingly talented pianist” by the leading Italian magazine Musica, Emma Abbate has performed in duo recitals for international festivals and concert societies in Austria, Portugal, Italy, Poland and USA, and at many prestigious UK venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, Royal Opera House, St John’s Smith Square, St George’s, Bristol and at the Aldeburgh Festival, in addition to broadcasts on BBC Radio 3. She is a staff coach at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Julian has also been hailed for his mastery of the piano, in 2021 he was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award, and is currently artistic director of Cambridge Handel Opera and founder director of Sounds Baroque. Julian also performs regularly at the Salzburg Festival, Edinburgh International Festival and BBC Proms, featured as soloist in concertos with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Florilegium and Orchestra of The Sixteen, and has appeared at London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center and Sydney Opera House.

Together Emma Abbate and Julian Perkins have given duet recitals at many prestigious venues including the Royal Opera House, St George’s Bristol, St John’s Smith Square, Hatchlands Park, the Russell Collection and for the Mozart Society of America. They have been hailed for their ‘impressive playing’ by BBC Music Magazine, and their previous projects have included Carl Maria von Weber’s complete piano duets and Mozart’s complete sonatas for keyboard duet on a variety of important original instruments from Finchcocks.