Markus Becker & Lutz Krajenski

Classical meets jazz – and that in the form of pianist Markus Becker, the acclaimed Haydn interpreter with a penchant for improvisation, and keyboardist Lutz Krajenski, who loves Mahler, but who plays for artists such as Randy Crawford, Tom Jones and Manfred Krug. Together, the two piano virtuosos fulfil a long-held dream whereby the classical musician is allowed to improvise and the jazzman submits to the discipline of the score. As a piano-organ duo – or to be more precise, on a grand piano and a 1970s Fender Rhodes – Becker and Krajenski claim, for themselves and their audience, a repertoire that ranges from Bach to Gershwin, from Brahms to Stevie Wonder, and from Beethoven to Thelonious Monk. Their name for this concert experience – which neither simply juxtaposes classical and jazz, nor fuses them together come hell or high water, but rather highlights the surprising intersections of two musical worlds – is “A Klazz Of Its Own”.