With their sublime and explosive recordings, Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher have established
themselves as the world’s leading piano duo, only comparable to the legendary Kontarsky brothers –
but even in this comparison GrauSchumacher’s interpretational skill leaves the Kontarsky brothers in
the dust.
(Fonoforum)
Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher have established themselves as one of the world’s top piano
duos, with a talent for putting together clever and innovative programmes. Their collaboration at the
piano is evidence that the two expert pianists are nothing short of musical soul mates.
Through their performances of well-known orchestral concertos by composers such as Bach, Mozart,
Mendelssohn, Bartók and Poulenc the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo is always striving for new ways to
extend the repertoire for two pianos and orchestra. They have, for example, initiated an arrangement
by Stefan Heucke of Franz Liszt’s famous Concerto Pathétique (originally for two pianos) for two
pianos and orchestra. Inspired by the duo’s virtuosic and delicate playing, some of the most important
contemporary composers have written new concertos for Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher, for
example Peter Eötvös, Philippe Manoury, Jan Müller-Wieland and Luca Francesconi. The duo
regularly give world premieres of duo pieces in recitals, most recently works by Michael Beil, Bernd
Richard Deutsch, Johannes Maria Staud, Vykintas Baltakas, and Philippe Manoury. Last season, they
were particularly praised for their premiere performance of a large-scale trilogy by Brigitta Muntendorf (Kunstfestspiele Herrenhausen, BASF Ludwigshafen, Ultraschall Festival Berlin).
The duo’s interpretations are wide-ranging and multi-faceted, and have led to continuous invitations to
international festivals and concert halls, as well as collaborations with renowned conductors such as
Michael Gielen, Lothar Zagrosek, Markus Stenz, Emanuel Krivine, Heinz Holliger, Kent Nagano,
Bertrand de Billy, Andrej Boreyko, Georges Prêtre and Zubin Mehta. Their most recent projects
include concerts with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Bavarian, WDR, HR, NDR and
SWR Radio Symphony Orchestras, Bavarian State Orchestra Munich, Vienna Radio Symphony
Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as well as performances at the
Musikfest Berlin, Ruhr Piano Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Wigmore Hall, Kölner Philharmonie,
Gewandhaus Leipzig, Wiener Konzerthaus, Mozarteum Salzburg, Tonhalle Zürich, Franz Liszt
Academy Budapest De Doelen Rotterdam, Handelsbeurs Ghent and the Concertgebouw Bruges.
The duo began the new season by making their debut at the Suntory Hall Tokoyo, and will close 2018
with a recital in honor of the 100th anniversary of B.A. Zimmerman´s birth and with a performance with
the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. Other guest appearances this season include
the DSO Berlin, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the
Lithuanian State Orchestra. The duo´s collaborative work with actors such as Klaus Maria Brandauer
continues and is complemented by a new Schubert program with Ulrich Noethen.
Their carefully considered programmes are a hallmark of their numerous recordings, released, among
others, on the label Neos , where the duo have their own series, including the CD Fantasias, with
works by Schubert, Purcell/Kurtág, Mozart/Busoni, Scriabin and Rachmaninov (“A reference
recording!”, Fono Forum). Most recently, their Concerti I-III series was recorded with the Deutsches
Symphonie-Orchester Berlin to much critical acclaim.
