The Miami International Piano Festival opened its 2026–2027 season on Sunday, October 18, at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center with a program written entirely for two pianos, a departure from the solo recitals and concertos that usually start the year. Three duos took the stage, and Lawrence Budmen called the afternoon a “smartly programmed survey” of the repertoire.

Albert Cano Smit and Julien Libeer began with a transcription of Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, which caught the languor of the original even if two pianos cannot match the colors of an orchestra, and followed it with a light, charming and well-contrasted reading of Mozart’s Sonata in D major.

Stephen Beus and Reed Tetzloff played three movements from Barber’s Souvenirs, a work first conceived as a ballet, by turns nostalgic and whirlwind-fast. Their centerpiece was Percy Grainger’s Fantasy on Porgy and Bess, a virtuoso showpiece of some twenty minutes that drew the biggest reaction of the afternoon and a well-deserved ovation.

Kemal Gekic and Ilya Itin closed the program with Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 1 and Ravel’s La Valse. The review praised their pearly tone, sweeping eloquence and vivid, dynamic playing, and singled out La Valse, together with the Grainger, as a highlight of the day.

The festival also announced its next event at the same hall: the Ferruccio Busoni 66th International Piano Competition, on November 15.