Bartók's educational classic, Mikrokosmos, performed complete at Southbank Centre

(October 2011)

The first complete performance of Mikrokosmos, Bartók's classic collection of graded piano pieces, takes over the Royal Festival Hall foyer as a Half Term free event on 27 October.

As part of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s year-long celebration of Béla Bartók entitled Infernal Dance, the Royal College of Music (RCM) is presenting a whole afternoon of Bartók’s music in the Royal Festival Hall foyer on Thursday 27 October (Clore Ballroom, Level 2). Central to the event is the first complete performance of Mikrokosmos, Bartók's six volume series of 153 graded piano pieces. Since its publication by Boosey & Hawkes in 1939 the collection has been regarded as an educational classic and has introduced generations of young pianists to the challenges and rewards of modern music.

The six-hour event , from 12.00 until 6.00 pm, is free of charge and listeners are encouraged to come and go. It provides visitors to the Southbank Centre in the Half Term holiday week with the opportunity to hear Bartók's music, perhaps for the first time, and witness the array of musical talent on display from the RCM Junior Department students, aged between 10 and 17. Performers include 12-year-old twins Lydia & Eleanor Tsoukkas, who will be performing the works for two pianos, and Martin Bartlett who last year participated in an RCM masterclass with Lang Lang.

As well as the complete Mikrokosmos, the afternoon will include all four books of the Violin Duos. Book 1 will be performed by Junior Department violinists, while Books 2 to 4 will be played by violinists aged 18 and over from the RCM's senior String Faculty. The afternoon will conclude with performances of other Bartók piano works, including the Bagatelles op.6 and the Piano Sonata. These will be performed by pianists aged 18 and over from the RCM’s senior Keyboard Faculty.

RCM Junior Department director Peter Hewitt said: “we are thrilled to be taking part in this project, which shows off the incredible versatility and skill of RCM Junior Department musicians, whether first study pianists or not. We encourage all our pianists to perform a wide variety of repertoire, but the Bartók Mikrokosmos are always extremely popular, particularly numbers such as From the Diary of a Fly and Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm. They are very useful for teachers, and very exciting for students to play.”

Following the Mikrokosmos event, the second phase of the Philharmonia Orchestra's Bartók series is launched with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the ballet The Wooden Prince at the Royal Festival Hall (27 October), together with the jazzy trio Contrasts, the Dance Suite and Piano Concerto No.2 with Yefim Bronfman as soloist. On 3 November Salonen conducts Duke Bluebeard's Castle in a semi-staged production with video projections, as part of a tour also visiting Birmingham (21 Oct), Lisbon (24 Oct) and Dortmund (12 Nov).

>More details on Mikrokosmos
>Mikrokosmos at Southbank Centre
>Philharmonia's Bartók microsite

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