4handsLA

photo by Scott Groller

4handsLA is L.A.’s “dazzlingly young” (Los Angeles Times) piano duo. Regular performers on the Jacaranda: Music on the Edge of Santa Monica series, the energetic duo of Steven Vanhauwaert and Danny Holt was introduced to audiences in 2009 in a performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. The Huffington Post wrote that the duo’s performance “created a sensation”, and LAOpus said of their Stravinsky performance: “The four-hand piano Sacre blazed like a comet through the hall. Both illuminating and liberating, one could only stand mute at the work’s astounding musical structure. Vanhauwaert and Holt tore into this piece like furies, undeterred by daunting challenges. It was a performance at turns propulsive and precise, aggressive and tender. What aplomb these two demonstrated!”

4handsLA was recently among seven finalists at the Liszt 200 Chicago International Duo Piano Competition, and the duo’s forthcoming debut CD–recorded on one of the world’s largest pianos–features the Stravinsky alongside other contemporaneous four-hand works from Paris by Ravel, Satie, Casella, and Poulenc.

photo by Scott Groller

Vanhauwaert and Holt are also active soloists, having performed at Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Concertgebouw, and other venues across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Vanhauwaert was the Grand Prize winner of the 2004 Los Angeles International Liszt Competition and his recent tour of China culminated at the National Center of Performing Arts in Beijing. Holt is a versatile performer known for championing contemporary works. His Fast Jump album (2009, Innova Recordings) received rave reviews from Gramophone magazine and has been heard on radio stations from coast to coast.