When Czech pianist Lada Valesova and contralto Emma Curtis met at the Guildhall School of Music in the late-90s they started a musical partnership that is still going strong 10 years later, writes Will Gore.

Curtis is an experienced opera singer who has performed at the International Handel Festival, the Staatstheater in Stuttgart and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Valesova also has plenty of experience, having played at the Wigmore Hall, in the chamber music concert series of Czech Philharmonics and with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.

The pair are giving a concert at the Dysart Arms, in Petersham Road, on Sunday with a programme that includes Schumann, Rachmaninov and Samuel Barber, and they are excited at the prospect of performing at such an intimate venue.

Curtis says: “I often drive past the Dysart Arms. It is a really lovely space and we are looking forward to it. Performing in recitals is a far more intimate experience than performing opera.

“For opera, you perform in front of 2,000 people with an orchestra in front of you, and there is the staging, costume and make-up. The audience don’t need to imagine much because the picture is in front of them, with a full orchestral sound to go with it.”

The pieces that the duo will perform include Schumann’s Wigmund and Jermand, Rachmaninov’s In the Silence of the Secret Night, and Barber’s Rain has Fallen, Sleep Now, I Hear an Army. There will also be work by Dvorak, Strauss and Bridge.

Curtis says: “It is a romantic programme and the music is about heartfelt expression, about looking for someone to fall in love with, or, having found that person, being overwhelmed.”

Why do they believe their partnership is continuing to flourish after a decade of performances?

“Emma has a fantastic sense of humour,” says Valesova. “She also has a very rich, unusual voice and, as I am of a Slavic nature, this appeals to me.

“We are also good friends, so we can be completely flexible.

“In rehearsal, we warm up with work that is not particularly challenging and then we tackle the more difficult pieces.

“It is an organic process and that is why it is a joy to perform with someone you have known for so long.”

Valesova believes the best pianists are the ones who convey ‘the soul’ of the music they are playing, but what does Curtis believe is the key to being an excellent singer? Her answer betrays her operatic roots.

“The best singers present the song in an honest way that communicates the story to the audience.

“Our aim is to tell stories.”

Emma Curtis and Lada Valesova, The Dysart Arms, 135 Petersham Road, August 2, 7.45pm, £13, 07967 481 625, visit the dysartarms. co.uk