What the press says:

“An enchanting evening and a real festival program that brought together two artists of considerable distinction. Their tandem is in itself an affirmation of music’s own diversity, in the sense that two so different temperaments emanating form diverse horizons can bring forth a timbre of an uncommonly refined consistency. Honegger’s very rarely performed Partita came as an absolute revelation. For me, this remained one of the high points of this fine concert.”
P.Petit, Figaro, France.

“In a recital that reached considerable heights, the husband and wife duo of Black Katayama demonstrated some exemplary ensemble playing: they have the ability to make the audience revel in the grandeur of sound and in the increased contrasts in colour and texture, possible only from two big instruments playing simultaneously.”
Enjoying 2 Pianos Article. Japan.

“The concert breathed with a strong sense of unity right from the start. The couple emit an air of gracefulness, they approach the art seriously and I can only be impressed by the very rightness of their playing. It is inadequate just to praise their exceptional technical and musical skills; a place amongst the very first rank should be their due.”
Enjoying 2 Pianos Article. Japan.

“The Paganini Variations were given a breathtaking execution, a great performance of flair and abandon in a radiance of style that made us feel the sheer joy of piano duo.”
Ongaku Gendai. Japan

“Black and Katayama dug up some highly unusual material and unearthed some glittering gems…powerful performances retraining warmth and intimacy, magical, it sparkled.”
South China Morning Post.

“A most delicately poised and stylish performance conveying beautifully changes in tonal colour.”
Matsue, Japan

“Christopher Black and Yoko Katayama’s interpretation will long stay in the memory of the Majestic’s fine domed ceiling. The audience left absolutely enthralled by a concert of immense beauty. The dialogue between the two pianos was superb, alternating gentleness of the romantic melodic harmonies with demonstrations of momentous force and vibrancy.” And again, in the Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninov, we heard an interpretation of these two exceptionally gifted pianists that expressed marvellously the soul and inspiration of the composer, the grief, the latent desperation of pending death.”
J. Tiollier. France.

“Lightness of touch, nuances, flamboyance and fantasy, all masterfully controlled, our two pianists excelled in conveying this music without equal.”
Dauphine Libere. France

Black and Katayama, two pianists of great class wonderfully complement each other.
They seduced the public with playing exemplifying finesse, elegance serenity. Their hands rattled across the keys with an impressive dexterity in a program of works rarely heard by famous authors.
Le Progres. France.

In the suite of waltzes from the opera “Chevalier a la Rose” by R.Strauss, Christopher and Yoko conveyed forcefully the eroticism and sensuality of these celebrated pages. Maurice Ravel`s Rhapsodie Espagnole breathed an air of seduction under the inspired fingers of these two artists. The voluptuousness, warmth and fervour that exuded from the movement of the dance itself, transcended into turmoil of colour and passion.
Journal de Morges, Switzerland.

The two pianos in perfect altruism evoked a dialogue of overwhelming turbulence soaring amidst a sumptuousness of tonal colour. This concert dedicated to Chopin`s Variations on a National Air, Jacobson`s Theme and Variations, Copland`s El Salon Mexico, Debussy’s Fêtes and Chabrier’s España overflowed with energetic vitality and a forceful vision: playing that remained intimately joined in a complicity of utmost tenderness.
M Buchaillard. France.