TWOPIANISTS

Acclaimed piano duo - Luis Magalhães and Nina Schumann - celebrate new CD at Howard College Theatre.

The acclaimed piano duo, TwoPianists, will give a recital at the Howard College Theatre on September 17 to celebrate the recent release of their second CD, which was officially launched in Portugal in June 2009.

The album has already been praised by critics, with Louis Heyneman hailing it as not only “the most exciting CD… in years”, but also, “as one of the best CDs ever produced locally” (Die Burger, 15.06.2009). The CD features performances of virtuoso masterpieces for two pianos performed by Luis Magalhães and Nina Schumann.

The works recorded on this CD include two pieces based on a famous theme by the legendary virtuoso violinist, Nicolò Paganini. The first of these is Constantin Silvestri’s arrangement of Brahms’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini (op. 35). A more modern, but equally virtuosic work based on Paganini’s theme is Witold Lutosławski’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini (1941), a tour de force of modern virtuosity. Several other works for two pianos are featured on this album. Of Anton Arensky’s five piano suites, the first and second (op. 15 and 23 respectively) are recorded here, as well as Leonard Bernstein’s arrangement of the ever popular El Salón México by Aaron Copland.

The CD was recorded in Stellenbosch’s Endler Hall, on a pair of Bösendorfer 280 pianos with Wolf-Dieter Karwatky, a five-time Grammy Award winner, as recording engineer.

TwoPianists, formed in 1999, comprises the Stellenbosch University based husband and wife duo, Luis Magalhães and Nina Schumann. They met at the University of North Texas, having both studied under the renowned Vladimir Viardo. They have performed on stages in the United States, Germany, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, and Japan. Their first release, for Universal Records, was a recording of the complete works of Rachmaninoff for two pianos.

TwoPianists’ latest CD will be available in leading retail outlets nationwide, as well as via their website, www.twopianists.com The release of this CD will be supported by a national concert tour comprising 16 performances. TwoPianists also plans to release the CD in the United States in October, accompanied by an American tour.

The concert takes place at 19h00 on September 17 in Howard College Theatre on the UKZN Durban campus.. Tickets (R50/R20) available at the door or booked through Mandy on 031 260 3353 or email wilkenm@ukzn.ac.za