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The American identical
twins, Richard and John Contiguglia, are among the most
acclaimed and versatile piano-duos in the world today. Since their
London debut in 1962, following which the London Daily Telegraph
described their playing as setting “a new standard for this intimate
form of music-making,” Richard and John are now the proprietors of
their own recording company,
Gemini CD Classics. Their
releases on the Gemini label, Schubert Piano Duets — The Final
Year, Live from the Holland Liszt Festival — Duos of Franz Liszt for
One and Two Pianos, Music of Gershwin-Grainger and, most
recently, Beethoven/Liszt 9th Symphony, reflect their
lifelong commitment to popularizing the great body of music for two
pianists. Their earlier recordings on the Connoisseur Society label
and live performances of Bartók’s Suite for Two Pianos, Op. 4b,
of Liszt’s transcription for two pianos of Beethoven’s 9th
Symphony and of Liszt’s Operatic Paraphrases on ‘Don
Giovanni,’ ‘Norma’ and ‘La Sonnambula’ were modern-day
premieres. The Liszt Society of Budapest, Hungary, in the first
record competition in the Society’s history, awarded the
Contiguglias’ recording of the Beethoven/Liszt 9th Symphony
its grand prix. With the Cleveland Orchestra they revived
Victor Babin’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra.
The most
extraordinary musical event of the twins’ youth was a performance in
their hometown of Auburn, New York, when they were 12 years old, of
a group of two-piano pieces in the middle of a solo-piano recital by
the legendary pianist-composer, Percy Grainger. Following their
concert together, Grainger presented the young pianists with many of
his two-piano scores, some with touching dedications: “to Richard
and John Contiguglia, from their admiring colleague,” “in admiration
of their splendid playing,” “in tonal fellowship.”
Richard and
John have performed with major orchestras throughout the world,
including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the
Atlanta Symphony, the National Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, the
Boston Pops, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Netherlands
Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonish Orkest. They
have been heard, both with orchestra and in recital, in numerous
prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in
New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Orchestra Hall in
Chicago, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in
Amsterdam.
They graduated
in the top 1% of their class at Yale, with identical averages of
91%, receiving their B.A. degrees summa cum laude, with
Philosophical Orations. Two years later they received M.Mus.
degrees from the Yale Graduate School of Music at the top of their
class. Subsequently, they studied for four years in London with the
great British pianist, Dame Myra Hess. In recognition of their
associations with Dame Myra, Richard and John were invited to
be the featured pianists for Dame Myra Hess Day, 2008, at the
National Gallery in London on November 25, 2008. Their performance
of a lunchtime concert at 1:00 pm, which the British critic, Jessica
Duchen, described as “extraordinary”, called to mind the 1:00 pm
lunchtime concerts (1,698, over a period of 6˝ years) that Dame Myra
organized during World War II at London’s National Gallery, for
which she was made Dame Commander of the British Empire by King
George VI. The summer of 2011 brought them to Australia to
participate in Townsville, Australia’s 21st Festival of Chamber
Music, with its special emphasis on the music of Franz Liszt and
Percy Grainger.
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| Richard and John Contiguglia perform at the Liszt Grand Prix Award Concert |
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Richard and John Conitguglia were awarded the Grand Prix du Disque
by the Liszt Society of Budapest, Hungary on October 22, 2012.
Below are performances from the award concert.
These videos may also be viewed on Richard and John's YouTube channel at
www.youtube.com/ContigugliaDuo
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Grand Gallop Chromatique by Franz Liszt
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"Sonnambula" Fantasy by Franz Liszt |
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Andante Religioso - (Beethoven) Franz Liszt
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Newest release on the
Gemini CD Classics
label |
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2012 Grand Prix du Disque
Liszt Society of Hungary
Liszt
–
Operatic Fantasies & Bartók
–
Suite for Two Pianos
Richard and John Contiguglia,
Duo-Pianists
Early in our career as a
professional duo-piano team we discovered duos of Liszt
and of Bartók that had never been previously recorded and
had seldom been heard in modern-day public concerts. The
duos of Liszt were only available from collections in
museum archives or in rare Russian editions. We were so
impressed with the quality of the music that we performed
much of it on our recitals in Europe and in the United
States and finally made, in the early 1970s, what came to
be several historic recordings for Connoisseur Society
Records. The resulting LPs have long since been
unavailable and were never reissued as CDs.
We are pleased to be able to
offer once again the original Connoisseur Society
recording of Liszt’s Operatic Fantasies and a live radio
broadcast recording for VARA Radio in Holland of
Bartók's Suite for Two Pianos, Op. 4b.
“You
owe it to yourself to seek out this recording –
performances of this caliber are quite rare.”
- American Record Guide, July/August 2012
Read full article
“This is the most amazing
recording of two-piano music that I can remember”
(Connoisseur Society Liszt LP)
- Gramophone, December 1975.
View More Information
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Contiguglia Duo’s
Liszt/Bartok CD
reviewed in the American Record Guide |
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 “...the
works here still have few recordings for comparison, and the ones I
know of are of no competition to these.”
“The results here are spectacular.”
“...the Contiguglia brothers give a
knock-out performance.”
“You owe it to yourself to seek out
this recording – performances of this caliber are quite rare.”
- American Record Guide
Read full article |
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Contiguglia Duo reviewed in CVNC |
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 “From
a front row balcony seat, the Sonata was a feast for the eyes
and ears and a constantly evolving puzzle for the mind! Balance
between the pianists and percussionists was excellent and the
co-ordination was very precise. The execution of the complex
contrapuntal layering of the first movement was breathtaking.
The eerie night music of the second movement was perfectly spun
out. The high jinks of the finale brought the unusually large
audience to its feet in prolonged applause for a wonderful
performance of a too seldom heard masterpiece. May the
Contigulia Brothers return to Elon soon with, maybe, another
memorable Schubertaid or an evening of Mozart.”
- CVNC, North Carolina
Read full article |
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Jessica Duchen’s Classical Music Blog reviews Dame Myra Hess Day
performance at the National Gallery |
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 “Lunchtime saw an
extraordinary performance by the Contiguglia Twins from
New York, who played the socks off Howard Ferguson,
Schubert and Beethoven. They came to Britain to study with
Hess as young boys and played the Schubert Variations on
an Original Theme for their Wigmore Hall debut. And...
I’ve heard of identical, but this was quite something. I’m
reliably informed that you can tell them apart when you
know them well.”
- Jessica Duchen’s
Classical Music Blog Read
More About Dame Myra Hess Day |
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Contiguglia Duo’s
Beethoven/Liszt CD
reviewed in the American Record Guide |
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“I
enjoy transcriptions as much or more than most, and this is a great
one, of the greatest piece, with a masterly performance, excellent
recorded sound, and perceptive notes.”
- American Record Guide
Read full article |
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Contiguglia Duo
reviewed in The News-Gazette, Champaign/Urbana, IL |
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 “The
piano duo of the identical Contiguglia twins is one of the most
famous exemplars of this branch of the piano field. They have shown
their superb discipline and fine musicianship here in years past as
guest artists with Hobson’s Sinfonia da Camera. On Monday night,
they aroused to a high level of enthusiasm the members of a
moderate-sized audience in Smith Music Hall.”
- The News-Gazette,
Champaign/Urbana
Read full article |
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Contiguglia Duo
reviewed in the News Times of
Danbury, CT |
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 “When
it came to Mozart’s concerto, the Contiguglias’ four hands
seemed to be playing with one mind and heart. The Allegro
movement was rich in thematic development, flowing back and
forth without repeating, but constantly moving along with a
natural progression. Exchanging phrases smoothly in this
brilliant dialogue, the twins’ cooperative effort was a model of
a well-functioning family. The final movement included cadenzas
and ritards performed with amazing synchronicity. The twins knew
each other’s parts as their own. My apologies go to the RSO, as
my attention was completely captured by the pianists.”
- News Times, Danbury,
CT
Read full article |
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Contiguglia Duo
reviewed in the Classical Voice of North Carolina |
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“The
playing was as astonishing as the music itself”
“And the best
artists — in which august group the Contiguglias belong — find
new meaning in every repeat performance. So there was nothing
routine about this concert”
“I heard things I’d
never noticed before, due to the great precision and clarity of
the performance. ’Twas Art with a capital “A,” all ’round.”
- Classical Voice of
North Carolina
Read full article |
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Performances 2012-2013 |
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Budapest, Hungary
Grand Prix du Disque Award Presentation Ceremony |
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Monday, October 22, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Chamber Concert Hall of the Old Franz Liszt Music Academy
Vörösmarty u 35
Budapest, VI Hungary |
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Andante
religioso
from Beethoven Festival Cantata
Franz Liszt
(1811-1886) |
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Operatic Fantasy on Bellini’s La Sonnambula
Franz Liszt
(1811-1886) |
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Hattiesburg,
Mississippi |
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Sunday, February 3, 2013 at 2:00 pm
University of Southern Mississippi School of Music
118 College Drive
Hattiesburg, MS 39406 |
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One Piano, four-hands |
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Andante
religioso
from Beethoven Festival Cantata
Franz Liszt
(1811-1886) |
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Operatic Fantasy on Bellini’s La Sonnambula
Franz Liszt
(1811-1886) |
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Fantasy in F Minor
Franz Schubert
(1797-1828) |
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Two Pianos, four-hands |
Sonata for
Two Pianos and Percussion
Béla Bartόk
(1881-1945)
Jason Mathena and Bud Bertholdt, percussionists |
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Davidson, North
Carolina |
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Saturday, February 16, 2013 at 8:00 pm
Davidson College
Tyler-Tallman Hall
Sloan Music Center
Davidson, NC 28035 |
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One Piano, four-hands |
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Andante
religioso
from Beethoven Festival Cantata
Franz Liszt
(1811-1886) |
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Operatic Fantasy on Bellini’s La Sonnambula
Franz Liszt
(1811-1886) |
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Fantasy in F Minor
Franz Schubert
(1797-1828) |
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Two Pianos, four-hands |
Sonata for
Two Pianos and Percussion
Béla Bartόk
(1881-1945)
Scott Christian and Leonardo Soto, percussionists |
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