On the 2 July, Benjamin took to the stage at Flagey alongside Michel Tabachnik and the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra for their final concert of the season and the penultimate concert of the Festival Musiq'3 2017. This year’s festival focussed on the theme of touch and tribute to the piano across multiple genres as the “king of instruments”. As part of the orchestra’s thrilling programme (see below), Benjamin performed Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 – resulting in a performance described as an “unstoppable version, crazy chic in its finish, and a ‘touch’ British” by ResMusica.

Liszt’s concerto was written over an exceptionally long period. The 19-year-old composer sketched the theme in a notebook dated 1830 but there followed years of revisions before the work was first performed in 1855. Following yet more revisions, the concerto we hear today was finally published in 1856 (some 26 years later when the composer was 45).

A full concert programme can be found below:

Leonard Bernstein – West Side Story: Ouverture

Franz Liszt – Piano Concerto no. 1 in E-flat major

Manuel De Falla – El sombrero de tres picos: Suite No. 2 (Three Dances)

Sergei Rachmaninov – Vocalise for cello and orchestre

Franz Liszt – Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 in c minor