Duo Yoo and Kim
South Korea
Yoon-Jee Kim and Jaekyung Yoo
The Piano Duo Yoo & Kim has rapidly become a formidable team. Barely two months after becoming a duo in 2010, they won First Prize in both four-hands and two-piano categories at the 20th International Piano Competition in Rome. The following year they took First Prize and a special prize for the best interpretation at the International Piano Duo Competition in Białystok, Poland, as well as First Prize in the International Four-Hands Competition in Valberg, France. In 2010, the duo made a concert appearance at the United Nations of Geneva and has also appeared on the NDR radio in Germany and in recital in Europe. They reside in Manchester, UK, where both are enrolled at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Aventure Piano Duo
Russia
Ada Gorbunova and Vitali Gavrouc
Aventure Piano Duo, Ada Gorbunova and Vitali Gavrouc, both 26 years old, have performed together since 2010. Among their honors is Third Prize in the Sixth International Competition for Piano Four Hands in Valberg, France. Aventure has performed throughout Russia and in February 2012 were special guests at the second Piano Duo Festival Piano Forte Gallery in Yekaterinburg, Russia, where they performed with the Ural State Philharmonic. Aventure performed in recital last May at the Acasa Piano Festival and in December will be heard in recital again in the Great Hall of the Philharmonic Society Minsk in Belarus. They are post-graduate students at the Moscow State Conservatory.
Duo Yamamoto
Japan
Ayaka and Yuka Yamamoto
Sisters Yuka and Ayaka Yamamoto formed the Duo Yamamoto in 2009. Within their first year of performing together, they won First Prize and a special prize at the Piano Teachers’ National Association (PTNA) Piano Competition in Tokyo as well as Grand Prize at the Third Yokohama International Music Competition. In 2010, they received First Prize and the Critic’s Award at the 13th Concorso Internazionale “Pietro Argento” in Gioia del Colle, Italy and Grand Prize at the 16th International Piano Duo Competition in Tokyo. The duo was accepted into the second round of the 59th International ARD Competition in Munich 2010 and in 2011 received a special honorable mention at the Liszt 200 International Piano Duo Competition in Chicago. The Duo Yamamoto has performed at various venues throughout Italy, Austria, and Japan, including the Gläserner Saal (Magnum Auditorium) of the Musikverein in Vienna in 2011. They are currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock, Germany.
Duo Ping and Ting
Hong Kong
Chau Lok Ping and Chau Lok Ting
Twin sisters Lok Ping and Lok Ting Chau began studying piano at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts at the age of five and graduated from there with their with master’s degrees in 2012. They began playing as a piano duo in 2007 and in 2009 won First Prize and two special prizes in the Fourth International Piano Duo Competition in Bialystok, Poland. The following year they took Second Prize in the San Marino International Piano Duo Competition. They were the youngest winners in both competitions. The duo has performed at the Joy of Music Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Fifth Gulangyu International Piano Art Festival in Xiamen, China and the Festival “Vacations with Music” in Nowy Sącz, Poland. They were awarded the Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarship and the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Scholarship to study duo piano repertoire at the Hannover University of Music and Theater and Media.
Lavrova/Primakov Duo
Russia
Natalia Lavrova and Vassily Primakov
Lavrova/Primakov Duo was established in August 2010. Since then, they have performed extensively throughout the United States and have garnered numerous critical accolades. In November 2011, Lavrova and Primakov established their own record label, LP Classics, an initiative committed to unearthing lost historical gems, presenting music not previously recorded, and enriching the discographies of emerging stars of the next generation.
Duo Bohemes
France/Romania
Aurelie Samani and Gabriela Ungureanu
The pianists Aurélie Samani from Pau and Gabriela Ungureanu from Bucharest met at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. Both gifted solo pianists with an interest in two-piano literature, they founded Duo Bohemes. They each have won several international piano competitions as soloists or in chamber music and in 2011, as a duo, won the Special Prize at the International Competition for Piano Four Hands, in Valberg, France. Most recently they won First Prize at the Concours Musical de France in Paris. This season they will be heard in concert throughout Europe.
Julia Getallo and Alexander Andreev Duo
Russia
The duo Yulia Getallo and Alexander Andreev was founded in 2004 while both were students at the Moscow Conservatory. They won First Prize in the Grand Prix of International Competition, Druskininkay, Lithuania, in 2005 and the Piano Ensembles Competition of Alexander Bakhchiev, Vologda, Russia, in 2009. The duo was heard at the International Week of Conservatories Festival in St. Petersburg in 2006, as well as at the Grand Week, dedicated to 140th anniversary of Moscow Conservatory. They have made a number of recordings for the Orpheus radio station.
duo imPuls
Germany
Barbara and Sebastian Bartmann
duo imPuls has established an international career. Its members Barbara Bartmann and Sebastian Bartmann have been playing four-handedly as well as on two pianos for more than 10 years. Today, they can be heard in concert halls throughout the world, at famed festivals such as the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, the Europäisches Musikfest Stuttgart, or the Edvard-Grieg Festival Oslo. Together, Barbara and Sebastian have performed at such concert halls as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Cankarjev Dome Ljubljana, the Kraków Philharmonic, the Gulbenkian Lissabon, or the Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels. In addition to their success on the concert stage, Barbara Bartmann and Sebastian Bartmann have achieved highly in many international competitions. Just recently, they were awarded 1st Prize in the International Competition for Contemporary Chamber Music Kraków 2009, in which they formed Flügelschlag-Quartett together with percussionists Ákos Nagy and Claudius Heinzelmann. In 2008, duo imPuls was awarded 1st Prize in the Concours Valberg Nizza for the first time in the history of the competition. In September of 2007, it received 1st Prize, the “Grieg-Prize”, as well as special prize for best performance of a contemporary work in the Edvard-Grieg Competition Oslo. duo imPuls received further prizes at the International Chamber Music Competition Palma d’oro Italy, the International Piano Duo Competition Bialystok Poland, as well as the Piano Duo Competition San Marino.Both Barbara and Sebastian hold fellowships at the Richard Wagner Association and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation “Live music now!”. As piano duo and piano four hands they are members of the Bundesauswahl Konzerte Junger Künstler Germany.
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