Katia Labèque
Katia Labèque is a French pianist known for her longtime collaboration with her younger sister in the Katia & Marielle Labèque piano duo. She was born in 1950 in Hendaye, France, and she started playing the piano when she was five years old. She received early instruction from her mother Ada Cecchi, who was an accomplished pianist and former pupil of Marguerite Long. Her father was also a musician and sang in the choir of the Bordeaux Opera. Later, Labèque and her younger sister Marielle studied piano together under Lucette Descaves at the Paris Conservatory. After they graduated in 1968, they continued their education and enrolled in the cycle de perfectionnement under Jean Hubeau, where they focused on repertoire for two pianos. The following year, they released their debut album Olivier Messiaen: Visions De L'Amen. This was followed by several recordings in the '70s including Bartok: Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion, Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes; Suite No. 2, and Hindemith - Martinu. They became quite popular through their recordings and touring from around this time, but they gained worldwide acclaim after their 1980 album Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue sold over 500,000 copies. The duo became known for their interpretations of both standard repertoire and contemporary works, and composers such as Philip Glass, Luciano Berio, and Arvo Pärt have written pieces especially for them. Labèque was married to jazz fusion guitarist John McLaughlin in the '80s, and they toured together and recorded Belo Horizonte, Music Spoken Here, and Mediterranean. The duo explored Baroque repertoire in the late '90s and performed under many of the top conductors of the genre, including Simon Rattle, John Eliot Gardiner, and Andrea Marcon. After a ten-year-long break from recording, she cofounded the KML Recordings label with her sister in 2007. The label was dedicated to releasing their own recordings and those of young and experimental ensembles from other genres, such as Dream House, Kalakan, and Red Velvet. Labèque remained very active with the piano duo through the 2010s and recorded several albums on the KML label, including Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue; Bernstein: West Side Story and Minimalist Dream House. Since 2020, she has premiered works by Nico Muhly and Bryce Dessner and appeared on the albums Nazareno: Bernstein, Stravinsky, Golijov, and Philip Glass: Cocteau Trilogy.
© RJ Lambert /TiVo
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Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes & Suite No. 2
Moura Lympany, Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque
Classical - Released by Warner Classics International on Nov. 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: Piano Music
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Apr. 5, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: Music for Two Pianos
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan. 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Glass: Cocteau Trilogy
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on Feb. 23, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky Fantasy
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan. 1, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monk: Ellis Island
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque, Bryce Dessner, David Chalmin
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on Apr. 7, 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Suites auriculaires, Rapsodie espagnole & Frontispice
Michel Béroff, Jean-Philippe Collard, Katia Labèque
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Oct. 16, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Concerto For 2 Pianos; 3 Movements From Petrushka; 5 Easy Pieces; 3 Easy Pieces
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Aug. 24, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin : Un Américain à Paris - Porgy & Bess (Fantaisie)
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Nov. 25, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moondog
Katia Labèque, David Chalmin, Massimo Pupillo, Raphael Seguinier
Electronic - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on Aug. 17, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chalmin: Eclipse
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque, Bryce Dessner, David Chalmin
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on Mar. 24, 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: An American in Paris/Fantasy on Porgy & Bess
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Nov. 25, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
She Came to Me - Patricia at the Convent
Bryce Dessner, Katia Labèque, André de Ridder
Cinema Music - Released by Warner Classics on Sep. 15, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Lullaby for Jacques et Brune
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on May 3, 2024
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
She Came to Me - Julian and Tereza
Cinema Music - Released by Warner Classics on Sep. 1, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Dream House Quartet
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque, Bryce Dessner, David Chalmin
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on Apr. 14, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chalmin: Eclipse
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque, Bryce Dessner, David Chalmin
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on Mar. 24, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monk: Ellis Island
Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque, Bryce Dessner, David Chalmin
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on Apr. 7, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo