ELIZABETH AND MARCEL BERGMANN Elizabeth and Marcel Bergmann have been performing together as a duo since 1989. They studied with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hannover and with Jean-Eudes Vaillancourt at the the Université de Montréal. The duo received first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Caltanissetta, Italy, and were laureates of the 4th Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition.
In 1993 they became members of the young artists’ roster of Yehudi Menuhin-Live Music Now. Their recitals and concerts with orchestra have taken them to many parts of the world, including the USA, Italy, Germany, Holland, Greece and Canada. The duo has appeared at the celebrated Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, the Banff Summer Arts Festival, the Royal Bank Calgary International Organ Festival and Competition, the International Two Piano Symposium and Schubertiade, Miami, the Tage für neue Musik, Darmstadt,the Braunschweiger Kammermusik Podium and at the EXPO 2000, Hannover.
They have made recordings for the CBC, for several stations of the ARD in Germany and for National Public Radio in the USA. In 1997 they recorded their first CD with 20th century works for two pianos. The duo’s most recent recording appears on the Arktos label featuring works by Rachmaninov, Bernstein and Debussy. As founding members of the International Piano Quartet they had the opportunity to record Stravinsky’s Les Noces under the direction of Robert Craft at the Abbey Road Studios in London. The CD first appeared on Koch International Classics and has been recently re-released on Naxos.
Currently on faculty at The Mount Royal College Conservatory in Calgary, Elizabeth and Marcel have also been involved in various musical activities at the Banff Centre for the Arts in recent years. They are members of the Calgary based group Land’s End Chamber Ensemble and have appeared as soloists with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Red Deer and Lethbridge Symphonic Orchestras. Their extensive repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary and includes numerous own arrangements and compositions.
bergmannduo@shaw.ca
