Contact
Xenia Groh-Huxh@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594 -224
Estefanìa Montes Menendezes@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594 -228
General Management
The complete recording of Christophe Bertrand's instrumental works with the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, Peter Rundel, and Brad Lubman was awarded the German Record Critics' Award 2021.
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo: Always Ready for Something New
Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher perform classical concert repertoire, prevent works of the 20th century from sinking into oblivion, and continue to prompt composers to write new pieces for orchestra and two pianos: no other piano duo is currently taking to the stage with such a wide repertoire with orchestras.
Johannes Maria Staud, Im Lichte II
Isabel Mundry, "Signaturen" for two pianos, percussion and string orchestra
Helmut Lachenmann, Double / Grido II for string orchestra
Bas Wiegers, conductor
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, piano
Ensemble Resonanz
Dirk Rothbrust, percussion
Isabel Mundry, composition
Not to be missed. The GrauSchumacher Piano Duo have perfected the art of piano playing for four hands. […] The decisive factor is the freedom they achieve in concert at the moment of making music. (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
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 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, such as Peter Eötvös, Philippe Manoury, Jan Müller-Wieland, and Luca Francesconi. The duo regularly give world premieres of duo pieces in recitals, including works Bernd Richard Deutsch, Philippe Manoury, and Johannes Maria Staud. Most recently, they delighted audiences with the world premiere of a large-scale trilogy by Brigitta Muntendorf.
The duo’s wide-ranging and multi-faceted interpretations have led to ongoing invitations to international festivals and concert halls, as well as collaborations with renowned conductors such as Michael Gielen, Markus Stenz, Emanuel Krivine, Kent Nagano, Andrej Boreyko, Georges Prêtre, and Zubin Mehta. As soloists, they have played with all of the German Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as well as at the Ruhr Piano Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Kölner Philharmonie, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Wiener Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Zürich, Franz Liszt Academy Budapest, Suntory Hall Tokyo, De Doelen Rotterdam, and the Concertgebouw Bruges.
In September 2020, the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo performed Bartók's Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Robin Ticciati at the Philharmonie as part of the Musikfest Berlin. Further invitations in the current season include the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival, Schwetzingen Festival, and the KunstFestspiele Herrenhausen. In addition to their recital and orchestral appearances, Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher are also realizing interdisciplinary art and music projects. This season, for example, they are continuing their collaboration with actor Ulrich Noethen, with the world premiere of a monodrama based on Jean Paul's Flegeljahre for an actor and two pianists, composed by Stefan Litwin, at the Musikfestspiele Saar. For the 75th anniversary of the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, the duo has also premiered the audiovisual fantasy Aries by composer and filmmaker Stephan Boehme.
The duo’s carefully considered programmes are also a hallmark of their numerous recordings, released, among others, on the label Neos, where they have their own series. Their most recent recordings include the CD Fantasias, with works by Schubert, Purcell/Kurtág, Mozart/Busoni, Scriabin, and Rachmaninov ("A reference recording!", Fono Forum), as well as the Concerti I-III series recorded with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin featuring works from Bach and Mozart to Adams. Their recording of Philippe Manoury's large-scale Le temps, mode d’emploi was awarded the 2019 German Record Critics' Award. The jury’s verdict? "With their inimitable delight in playing, Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher navigate a labyrinth [...]. Listening becomes pleasurable, timeless, completely in the moment.”
Season 2020/21
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.
For two pianos I
For two pianos II - The Art of Fugue
For four hands I – Several short waltzes
For four hands II - Kurtág - Bartók
“[…] an exhilarating study in the transformation of sonority.”
The Sunday Times, Dan Cairns, 1/12/2019 (100 best records of the year, Philippe Manoury: Le temps, mode d'emploi)
“[W]hat's really impressive is how well the live electronics interact with pianists Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher. […] Entrancing sounds apart, it's possible to enjoy the music as a demonstration of the pair’s technical skills: rich, deep chords ringing out to thrilling effect and the faster, percussive passages superbly co-ordinated. Listening in a single sitting makes the coda’s soft tinklings as emotionally affecting as they are beautiful.”
The Artsdesk, Graham Rickson, 14/09/2019 (on the recording of Philippe Manoury: Le temps, mode d'emploi)
“Just as Brandauer succeeds in imagining the magical happenings in the Athenian forest only through language and a little play, so the two pianists are able to visualize the magic of Mendelssohn's music with four hands without any other instruments on the piano.”
Pforzheimer Zeitung, Wolfram Frey, 23/07/2018
“Three German premieres by Shostakovich [Arthur Honegger's third symphony, Igor Stravinsky's Psalmensymphonie and Mahler's Tenth Symphony in the version for two pianos]: A fantastic opportunity for the piano duo GrauSchumacher to present their artistic freedom with all due restraint.”
FAZ, Michael Ernst, 28/06/2018
“GrauSchumacher’s Schubert and Rachmaninov contain several amazing moments. Instead of grand gestures, the expressive details are brought to the fore. […] Those who know Rachmaninov’s piano music will be aware that he managed to realise his ideal sound world in these works. A reference recording!”
Fono Forum, Matthias Kornemann, September 2017 – Recommendation of the month
“The GrauSchumacher Piano Duo are always accurate and well balanced, with some great feats of coordination.”
The Observer, Nicholas Kenyon, 14/5/2017 (Fantasias)
“There are hardly any recordings in which the first two chords capture the imagination, as this one does. […] This is an inspiring programme, brilliantly played, with a real element of fun – what more can one ask for!”
BR-Klassik CD-Tip, Thorsten Preuß, 14/03/2017 (Concerti III)
“The phenomenal pianists played these works [Busoni’s complete works for two pianos] as if lost in a dream, so that […] one believed that it was here and only here (except perhaps in the music of Bach himself) where musical freedom had been achieved.”
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Julia Spinola, 5/09/2016
“The GrauSchumacher Piano Duo from Berlin gave a spellbinding concert, which opened with Bach reinvented by György Kurtág elegantly and Busoni extravagantly (his mammoth Fantasia contrappuntistica). These works were played from memory, a feat in itself, with every line of counterpoint clearly voiced, every pianistic flourish and crossing of parts delivered with fantasy. The four hands of Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher seemed to spring from one head and heart.”
The Guardian, Fiona Maddocks, 18/10/2015
“[Brigitta Muntendorf’s] piano work “The key of presence” is great music for light instrumentation: the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo handled the amplified piano and their microphoned bodies expertly.”
Neue Musikzeitung (nmz), Andreas Kolb, March 2015
“There is a lot going on in “Le temps, mode d’emploi“ (2014) for two pianos and live electronics – the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo and SWR Experimentalstudio performed the world premiere of this 50-minute work brilliantly. The construction is one of elegant strength, which at times feels spontaneous, and the pianists’ spectacular playing combined with electronics is highly entertaining. […] The polyphony of time that is produced is so invigorating that the time just flies by.”
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 15/05/2014 (on the world premiere of Philippe Manoury’s Le temps)
“Forceful, spectacularly virtuoso […]. This performance is a model of sustained alertness, the recording admirably spacious and sonorous.”
Gramophone, Arnold Whittall, March 2011 (on the CD recording with works from Bartók and Rihm)
“Both pianists in the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher, find an excellent balance between diligence necessitated by the character of the piece and a sound quality that remains clear up to the most hazy ray of light, both of which contribute to the listener’s understanding of the project.”
Diapason, Benoît Fauchet, February 2010 (on the CD Kosmos. George Crumb, György Kurtág, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Béla Bartók, Peter Eötvös)
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo | Orchestra Repertoire
Quasi una fantasia...
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo | MDR Symphony Orchestra | Béla Bartók: Concerto for two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo / Klaus Maria Brandauer: Mozarts Freiheit
bastille musique, DDD, 2022
Works by Brahms, Wagner & DebussyNeos, 2020, DDD 10350120
for 2 Pianos & Elektronics, Experimentalstudio des SWRNeos, Jun 2019, DDD 9262939
JAHRESPREIS DER DEUTSCHEN SCHALLPLATTENKRITIK
Works by Purcell/Kurtág, Mozart, Schubert, Scriabin, Rachmaninov
Works by Francis Poulenc, Colin McPhee, John AdamsGrauSchumacher Piano Duo, Trio Mediæval, Brad Lubman, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester BerlinNEOS Feb 2017, DDD 21703
Works by Liszt, Heucke, Bach, Stravinsky
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, Martyin Brabbins, Conductor, Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester Berlin
NEOS 2014, 21302
Werke von Bach, Debussy, Saint-Säens, Mozart, Wagner, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovski, Ravel
Neos 2012, 20903
Werke von Rihm, Bartók
Franz Schindlbeck und Jan Schlichte, Schlagzeug
NEOS 2010, 11032
Werke von Crumb, Kurtág, Stockhausen, Bártok, Eötvös
NEOS 2009, 20802
Werke von Schubert, Schostakovitsch
Neos 2009, 20801
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; Peter Rundel, Dirigent
Neos 2009, 10721
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart; Marcus Creed, Dirigent
SWRmusic/hänssler 2009, hänsslerCLASSIC CD 93.231
Liszt: Via Crucis für Chor, Solostimmen und Klavier zu vier Händen
Neos 2009, 20902
Debussy, Strawinsky
Neos 2008, 20805
Concerto per due pianoforti e orchestra
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien; Bertrand de Billy, Dirigent col legno Wien Modern Edition #2, 2008, WWE 20281
Schütz/Kurtág - Messiaen
col legno Edition 2005, WWE 20105
Hommage à Paul Klee
Camerata Bern
col legno 2005, WWE 1CD 20240
col legno Edition 2003, WWE 20108
Cosmos, Version for two pianos (1961/99)
BMC 2003, BMC CD 85
col legno Edition 2002, WWE 20106
Schubert - Brahms - Grieg - hindemith - Rihm
col legno Edition 2002, WWE 20103
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo; Ulrich Noethen, Sprecher
Edition Seeigel 2001, ISBN 3-935461-06-3
Samuel Weiss, Sprecher
Edition Seeigel 2001, ISBN 3-980 4507-1
Sonate für Klavier zu ier Händen - Walver Op.6 - Sonate für zwei Klaviere
wergo 1999, WER 6633-2
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, Chorus Musicus, mit S.Isokoski, A.Schmidt, C.Spering
opues 111 1997, OPS 30-140
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; Bernhard Kontarsky, Dirigent
col legno 1997, WWE 20002
wergo 1995, WER 6267-2