Tal & GroethuysenDuo Tal & Groethuysen

The Israeli pianist Yaara Tal and her German partner Andreas Groethuysen are forming one of the worldwide leading piano duos. While working on their solo careers they discovered that their musical talents match perfectly well when they play together as a duo. In consequence they dedicated themselves especially to highly demanding compositions for one piano four-hands and found an unanimously enthusiastic echo by public and press.

The Duo Tal & Groethuysen is performing at prominent venues: Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Philharmonies Berlin, Cologne and Munich, Teatro alla Scala Milano, Musikhalle Hamburg, Hongkong Arts Festival, Frick Collection New York, Forbidden City Concert Hall Peking, Musikverein Vienna, Tonhalle Zürich etc., to name only a few. June 2005 the duo went on tour through several countries in Latin America for celebrations of 40 years of German-Israeli diplomatic relations. The highlights of 2006 included a series of three Mozart recitals in the Berlin Konzerthaus and a Mozart recital at the Salzburger Festspiele.

Yaara Tal, born in Tel Aviv, gave her first public concert at the age of seven. Throughout her youth, she was sponsored by the American-Israel Cultural Foundation and continued to win scholarships and musical awards. She studied with Asriel Beresowski, Ilona Vincze and Arie Vardi at the Music Acadamy in Tel Aviv and graduated with honors in piano and composition. On scholarship from the "Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst" (DAAD), Yaara Tal came to Germany to complete her studies, attending the masterclasses of Hugo Steurer, Ludwig Hoffmann and Peter Feuchtwanger. At the same time she started giving concerts and making recordings for radio and television.

Andreas Groethuysen (read: Grothoisen), born in Munich, first decided on a musical career after he had explored other subjects, studying the piano with Ludwig Hoffmann in Munich. Having graduated with honors and having been awarded a scholarship from the "Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes" he continued his studies in London with Peter Feuchtwanger. Being chosen for a nationwide selection of young artists he could initiate his wide activities as soloist, with orchestral concerts, recitals and chamber music, radio and record productions.

The exclusive cooperation with the record company SONY CLASSICAL makes up an important part of their international success: Both artists have released numerous recordings, partly as world premiere recordings, many of which received the "Prize of the German Critic". In 1997 they completed the worldwide first integral recording of Franz Schubert's piano compositions for four hands which won the "Echo"-Prize of the German Phono Academy and the Cannes Classical Award 1998. Recent releases of the duo again include several world premiere recordings which were likewise awarded several prizes (Echo-Prize 2001, Prize of the German Critic 2002, 2004).

In March 2006 the third and last volume of an integral recording of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart´s pieces for two pianists was released, the first of it was honoured yet again with the Echo-Prize 2005 for the best recording of chamber music. Their latest release (Mendelssohn) was awarded the Prize of the German Critic 2009. 

"...Especially the outer two movements of the Octet are of a breathtaking virtuosity...an acrobatic Tour de Force... We're so lucky that of all piano duo's none but the great Tal & Groethuysen decided to take this on.… this unrivalled duo from Munich...they belong to the Champions League of 4-handed piano playing...their absolute congruence, their sense of perfection, their immaculate technique, their sense of colour, accents and balance with which they are able to make the entire structure of a piece audible…" Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Also visit: www.duotg.com