Güher, Süher Pekinel - Take Bach

Güher and Süher Pekinel have an international reputation as one of the piano duos of exceptional virtuosity and electrifying expressive power. International orchestral engagements included performances with leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia London, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhausorchester. They are equally at home with recitals in the most prestigious concerthalls in Europe, USA, Japan and the far east, where they are considered to demonstrate extraordinary poetical musicality and pianistical perfection with an unanimity of style and execution. Pekinels are worldwide the only Duo, sitting back to back and playing without any eye contact in order to concentrate on their respective “breath of musical momentum”.

They first appeared in public at the age of six, three years later they made their debut in a live radio performance with the Ankara Philharmonic. They started their studies at the Conservatoire de Paris, and later moved to the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt. On the invitation of the piano legend Rudolf Serkin, Pekinels studied with him at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia as well as with Claudio Arrau and Leon Fleisher in New York, where they completed their master’s degrees at the Juilliard School with Adele Marcus.
They won several first prizes in international piano competitions in Germany, Italy and the US, including the first prize at the UNESCO World Competition representing Germany.
Herbert von Karajan played an important role in their professional careers by inviting them in 1984 to the Salzburg Festival and opened the gateway to an international career

Leonard Bernstein, Jacques Loussier and Bob James have dedicated works and arrangements to them. The Pekinels are Honorary State Artists of Turkey and also holders of honorary PhDs from the Bogaziçi University in Istanbul.

Their extensive discography includes recordings of most important works for piano duo as well as the best-selling “Take Bach” project, in collaboration with jazz musician Jacques Loussier. Many of their recordings have been awarded with various prizes and reached remarkably high sales figures. Lately the CD recording of complete Bach two and three piano concertos , followed by a CD with works of Brahms and Saint-Säens were chosen “best record of the week and month” by The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. Pekinels recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Teldec, CBS, Chandos and Warner Classics.
They have been invited to appear on many TV and radio shows all over the world and were portrayed in two TV documentaries by ZDF, ARD and ARTE, the last one entitled as “Double Life” was shown worldwide

Highlights of the recent past have included concerts at the Bavarian State Opera, Eurovision concert with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which was broadcast across 23 countries, and an eight-city tour with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra – all of these concerts were conducted by Zubin Mehta. Further there have been tour with the Jacques Loussier trio, televised appearance at the Schwetzingen Festival in co-operation with the SWR and the BBC, concerts for Radio France with the Orchestre du Capitol de Toulouse for his 50th Anniversary and a series of concerts with the London Mozart Players. The duo have performed in Spain and the UK with the English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, made the opening of the Lucerne Piano Festival, was the soloist of the New Year’s Eve concerts in Zurich and Lucerne in 2007, which are recently released in their FIRST DVD “Güher&Süher Pekinel: LIVE IN CONCERT” by “Arthaus Musik”.

Their second DVD, which will contain other concerts with ECO and Sir Colin Davis, recitals and three piano versions of Bach-Jazz live recordings with Jacques Loussier produced by BBC and SWR together, is scheduled to be released by the end of 2010.

Pekinels have realised parallel to their concert career two main social responsibility projects. The first one aims the reintegration of music education in schools starting from primary schools up to high schools. As a prime example, they have founded and financed a music department in 2007 at the boarding school of TEVITÖL, which has already proven itself by its results obtained in the past three years. The school offers a high-level musical education to selected gifted and talented children from all over Turkey, parallel to the ordinary curriculum.
Pekinels promote also the instant realisation of the Erasmus project in all Turkish conservatories which will leverage the remaining standard to the international equivalent.
In order to back this leverage Pekinels have initiated with the financial support of “Onduline”, Turkey based French company, “Young Musicians on World Stage” project and directed a nationwide selection in the leading six conservatories in six cities. As a result they have granted scholarships to 14 young, gifted musicians in five different instruments, who have the possibility to continue their education with leading musicians and pedagogues in the USA and Europe and also take part in the leading international competitions.