Duo Jatekok
‘The two girls of the Duo Jatekok have everything going for them: dynamic precision and an expressive liveliness, keyboard wizardry, a transnational universality of touch, and above all, an exhilarating ability to absorb influences.’ (Le Monde)

In 2007 Naïri Badal and Adélaïde Panaget officially founded their Duo, performing – on the advice of Claire Désert – a contemporary work by Kurtág, Játékok, a work that symbolises their collaboration, made up as it is of contemplative little lyric miniatures imbued with feeling and sensibility. And so the word ‘Jatekok’ – ‘Games’ in Hungarian – became their signature.

Prizewinners at two major international piano duo competitions – Rome in 2011 and Ghent in 2013 – they have built up a repertoire that reflects both their dynamism and their expressive range. Their first album, ‘Danses’, released by the Mirare label in 2015, was unanimously acclaimed by the press, and the Duo proceeded to showcase it at major classical music festivals and venues: the Roque d’Anthéron Festival, La Folle Journée’ at Nantes, Warsaw Opera, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Salle Flagey in Brussels, the Prague Dvorak Museum, the Borsellino Theatre of Sicily, and the Auditorium del Massimo in Rome.

They have also been guest artists with the Chamber Orchestra of Geneva and the Sinfonia Varsovia, as well as generally expanded their concert activity, and they have attracted sponsorship from Spedidam and Fnapec.

As well as interpreting classical pieces for the educated audience, the Duo Jatekok enjoys sharing their love for an art that is often less accessible to the great majority. Accordingly, they maximise opportunities for connecting in original ways with the audience, whether by using a microphone to explain the origin of a piece or the biography of a composer, or by performing The Nutcracker with Marina Sosnina, a sand artist; or again by illustrating Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince with the actor and mime Julien Cottereau.

Naïri Badal et Adélaïde Panaget have found a way to reach an audience that recognizes their straightforward sincerity, their talent and their authenticity. Jatekok means playing the piano, playing with the piano, whether as a duet or on two pianos, classical or contemporary, playing with the audience, or with other artists. For playing, and the sense of play, is the Duo’s essential quality.