Kris Defoort & Jan Michiels - Pla(y)ces (2026)

Two pianos, a hundred years between them, and yet one conversation. W.E.R.F. records is pleased to announce the release of a remarkable live recording in which improvising pianist/composer Kris Defoort and pianist Jan Michiels meet in an intimate, polyphonic dialogue — with the Préludes of Claude Debussy as their shared point of departure.

The recording is a live capture of the concert given by Kris Defoort and Jan Michiels on 16 October 2022 at Concertgebouw Bruges, documenting what happens when two exceptional pianists with a deep mutual admiration share the stage.
The programme has its roots in a commission. At Jan Michiels' request, Kris Defoort composed DEDICATIO book 1: nine intimate piano pieces, personal letters dedicated to people close to his heart. As the cycle took shape, Michiels discovered a striking affinity with the work of Debussy. Although a century separates the two pianist-composers, they write from a similar inner perspective and the same refined sensitivity to colour and atmosphere.

From there came the idea of giving concerts in which Jan Michiels performs passages from the Préludes livre I et II on the spot, to which Kris Defoort responds in his own improvisational style. This is not illustration, not pastiche, but a genuine two-way conversation: Debussy as springboard, as mirror, as invitation. The result is an album that hovers between composition and improvisation, between tradition and the present, between the familiar and the unexpected.

Jan Michiels: Piano - C. Debussy (Straight Strung Concert Grand By Chris Maene)
Kris Defoort: Piano - Improvisations (Steinway D Concert Grand)