Simone Alessandro Tavoni & Idlir Shyti

This one-hour recital for piano and cello brings together lyrical intimacy, folk-inspired colour, and virtuosic passion across Central Europe, the Mediterranean, and South America.

The program opens with Bach’s serene Sheep May Safely Graze, reimagined in a warm dialogue between cello and piano, before moving into the poetic world of Schumann’s Five Pieces in Folk Style. Albanian folk songs add a deeply personal and regional voice, followed by the vibrant contrasts of de Falla’s Siete Canciones Populares Españolas.

Italian opera and Russian romanticism appear through Verdi’s dramatic Preludio da I Masnadieri and Rachmaninov’s expressive Op. 21 No. 7. The evening concludes with the unmistakable sound of Buenos Aires in Piazzolla’s Oblivion and the fiery Gran Tango.

Duration: 60 minutes

Doors Open: 19:30

Show Starts: 20:15

Program

• J.S. Bach – Sheep May Safely Graze (arr. for cello & piano)

• R. Schumann – Five Pieces in Folk Style

• Two Albanian folk songs

• M. de Falla – Siete Canciones Populares Españolas

• G. Verdi – Preludio da I Masnadieri

• S. Rachmaninov – Op. 21 No. 7

• A. Piazzolla – Oblivion & Gran Tango

Artists

Simone Alessandro Tavoni, piano

Italian pianist Simone Alessandro Tavoni has performed extensively across Europe and the United States, appearing in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. A BBC Pathway Scheme winner, he has performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with broadcasts on BBC Radio 3.

A Parklane Group Artist and former Aspen Music Festival fellow, Simone trained at the Giacomo Puccini Conservatory, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Royal College of Music, and Trinity Laban Conservatoire. He is the founder and artistic director of the Paisajes Piano Festival in Spain and a Trustee of the Kensington and Chelsea Music Society.

Idlir Shyti, cello

Albanian cellist Idlir Shyti, based in London, holds the Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste from the École Normale de Musique de Paris, where he studied with Anssi Karttunen. His training also includes the Royal College of Music in London and the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Idlir has appeared with orchestras such as the Südwestdeutsche Kammerorchester Pforzheim and Southbank Sinfonia, and at festivals across Europe and the UK. Deeply engaged with contemporary music, he has premiered works at Cheltenham Festival and performed with ensembles including Chineke and IXION. He regularly collaborates with major UK orchestras and performs on a cello made by Peter Beare (2007).