“To have such a student is a dream and the chance of a lifetime for any teacher: he is a true diamond,” Sergey Babayan once exclaimed referring to his former student Daniil Trifonov. Babayan deeply loves the universe of sonorities he encounters in the music of Sergey Rachmaninov, whose 150th birthday is being celebrated in 2023. Babayan transmitted that same passion for Rachmaninov to Daniil Trifonov, who, in the meantime, has gone on to conquer the music podiums of the world. “One day, Babayan finally considered that I had gained sufficient maturity for this music, in order to avoid playing it too sentimentally,” Trifonov recalls. He is one of the current leading Rachmaninov interpreters, and the former teacher-student relationship has fledged into a close artistic friendship. Their joint appearance featuring the works for two pianos by Sergey Rachmaninov – including the magnificent Symphonic Dances – will be a summit of musical minds, certainly one of the highlights in this year’s edition of the Ruhr Piano Festival.