Lyon-based pianist Stefan Cassar is teaming with young, talented, French pianist Celimene Daudet for a two-piano recital on 10 October for the inauguration of the Manoel Theatre season 2006-2007.

This year is a special occasion as the theatre will be in all its splendour after the completion of the recent restoration works. The recital for two pianos, under the auspices of the French Embassy in Malta, includes works by Debussy, Poulenc and Milhaud.

Stefan Cassar needs no introduction to the Maltese music-loving public. He is now well-established in France, based in Lyon where he is the artistic director of the chamber music festival Piano en Hiver in Brittany. Cassar is also the founder of an annual Summer Music Academy in Provence for advanced piano students attending conservatoires in the region. He is also actively engaged in teaching and giving master classes.

Cassar has studied under renowned masters such as Sergio Perticaroli, Helena Czerny Stefanska. Germaine Mounier and Valery Afffanasiev. He is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Superieure de Musique de Paris, where he studied as an awardee of Eyton Scholarship offered by the Albert Roussel Association of Paris. He had originally proceeded to France as the prize winner of the Council of Women”s Bice Mizzi Vassallo competition. In Malta, he has studied with Suor Benjamina Portelli, under whose guidance, he obtained the licentiate of the Royal College of Music and under Carmelo Schembri.

Celimene Daudet, is a young talented French pianist trained in the famous ecole francaise tradition. She is a Premier Prix recipient in performing of the Conservatoire Superieure de Musique de Lyon and that of chamber music of the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Dans de Paris.