On 4 September Miles Walter and Lee Dionne give the Australian premiere of George Benjamin’s Divisions at the Hayes Street Studio, Sydney. They perform the 14-minute work for piano, four hands twice in two concerts that evening – details here.
A term used in 17th-century English keyboard music for a set of variations, the idea of the title Divisions also applies to the physical separation of two players at one instrument. The friction and conversation that emerges between the interaction of the two players and the material assigned to them formed an essential part of Benjamin’s compositional process. The piece opens with quiet but insistent repeated notes, as fragments of melody begin to appear and, in turn, clouds of harmony. Different strands of music are played simultaneously and juxtaposed accordingly, against a slow-moving backdrop, which is disturbed by cascades and ripples.
It received its world premiere from the composer and longtime collaborator Pierre-Laurent Aimard in June 2025 at the Boulez Saal, and made its UK debut with the duo at Wigmore Hall in November 2025, as well as its US premiere at 92nd Street Y in New York. Since it has made its Spanish debut with Aimard and Lorenzo Soules at the Auditorio Nacional de Música and will receive its French premiere from Aimard and Benjamin at the Festival Messiaen on 28 July.
In the second half of 2026 the duo perform Divisions at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ and in Munich as part of the musica viva series, alongside Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s opera Picture a day like this. It will also appear with Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen at the 2026 London Piano Festival, introduced by the composer in conversation with broadcaster Donald Macleod.