Photo: Soizic-Lebouc
"The two girls of the Jatekok duo have everything for them: dynamic rigor and expressive verve, prolix keyboard and polyglot touch, and more than anything, a way of jubilant osmosis" Le Monde
In 2007, Naïri Badal and Adélaïde Panaget formally form their duet and perform on Claire Désert's board a contemporary play by Kurtág: the Játékok. A work that will crystallize their understanding, made of small miniature lyrical, contemplative, full of emotion and sensitivity. Jatekok, "game" in Hungarian, an idea that will make their signature.
Winners of two major international competitions for duo pianos, Rome in 2011 and Ghent in 2013, they build a repertoire in the image of their dynamism and expressiveness. Their first album "Danses" distributed with the label Mirare in 2015 is unanimously recognized by the press and the duo will present it in major festivals and important scenes of classical music: the Roque d'Anthéron festival, the crazy days from Nantes, the Warsaw Opera, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Flagey auditorium in Brussels, the Dvorak museum in Prague, the Borsellino theater in Sicily, and the Massimo auditorium in Rome.
Their second album "The Boys" released in 2018 at the Alpha Classics label pays tribute to the American duo Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale. This is an opportunity for them to mix modern pieces and works from the great repertoire. Adelaide and Naïri have at heart to broaden the desires of music lovers and stir their curiosity. With this new program they were invited to play at the Seine Musicale in Paris, at the Piano Festival in Lille or in Belgium and China.
Invited by the Chamber Orchestra of Geneva, Guatemala, Malaysia and the Sinfonia Varsovia, they multiply the musical encounters with ensembles, intrumentists and artists from other universes.
Beyond the interpretation of classical pieces in front of well-informed audiences, the Duo Jatekok likes to share his love of an art sometimes difficult to reach to the greatest number. Thus they multiply the opportunities to build original links with the public, whether by taking the microphone to explain the origin of a piece or the story of a composer, interpret Nutcracker with Marina Sosnina, drawing on sand, or illustrate the Little Prince accompanied by the actor Julien Cottereau.
Naïri Badal and Adélaïde Panaget find a way to an audience that recognizes their sincerity, simplicity, talent and authenticity. Jatekok: playing the piano, with the piano, four-handed, two-pianos, classical, contemporary, with the audience, with other musicians, other artists. Play is the essence of their Duo.