GÜHER & SÜHER PEKİNEL
duo-pianist team since Arthur and Karl-Ulrich Schnabel."
The Pianist Magazine
Alexander Letvin
Güher and Süher Pekinel have an international reputation as one of the leading piano duos of exceptional virtuosity and electrifying expressive power. Their international orchestral engagements include performances with leading orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras, the Philharmonia London, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam as well as 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 concert halls across Europe, the USA, Japan and the Far East, where they are considered to demonstrate extraordinary poetical musicality and pianistic perfection with an unanimity of style and execution. Pekinel’s are the only Duo worldwide, sitting back to back and playing without any eye contact in order to concentrate on their own personal “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 great musician and pianist Rudolf Serkin, Pekinel’s pursued their studies with him at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and further studied with legends such as Claudio Arrau and Leon Fleisher in New York, where they completed their Master’s degrees at the Juilliard School with Adele Marcus and concurrently at the Frankfurter Musikhochschule with honors. Including the first prize at the UNESCO World Music Competition during which they were representing Germany, Pekinel’s were awarded first prizes as soloists and as a duo in several international competitions in Germany, Italy and the in the USA.
Herbert von Karajan personally 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 personally re-wrote works and arrangements for Pekinel’s, which they recorded as CDs. They are also Honorary State Artists of Turkey and holders of honorary PhDs from the Bogaziçi University in Istanbul.
Pekinel’s extensive discography with the most prestigious labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Teldec, CBS, Chandos and Warner Classics includes recordings of most important works for piano duos. Among others their West Side Story album which Leonard Bernstein re-arrangenged personally for them was nominated the “Album of the Year” and their best-selling “Take Bach” Jazz project with Jacques Loussier brought sales records. Their latest release, a recording of Bach’s concertos for two and three pianos as well as works of Brahms and Saint-Säens were chosen “Best Album of the Week and of the Month” by The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. Pekinel’s have been invited to appear on many TV and radio shows all over the world and were portrayed in two award winning TV documentaries produced by ZDF and ARD-ARTE. The rights of the latter documentary entitled “Double Life” acquired by Unitel is currently being broadcast on major global TV networks.
Highlights of Pekinel’s most recent discography includes concerts such as Eurovision concert with Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasted across 23 countries, a concert at the Bavarian State Opera and an eight-city concert tour with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra – all conducted by Zubin Mehta. Further there have been tour with Jacques Loussier Trio televised appearance at the Schwetzingen Festival in cooperation with the SWR and the BBC; concert for Radio France with Orchestre National du Capitol de Toulouse on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary directed by Michel Plasson; also a series of concerts in Spain and in the UK with London Mozart Players and English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis, the opening concert of the Lucerne Piano Festival as well as the 2007 New Year concerts in Zurich and Lucerne which are released February 2010 in their first DVD “Güher & Süher Pekinel: Live in Concert” by “Arthaus Musik”.
Their second DVD, which will contain a concert with ECO and Sir Colin Davis as well as recitals and three piano works of Bach-Jazz live recordings with Jacques Loussier produced by BBC and SWR together, is scheduled to be released by Arthaus Musik by end 2010.
In parallel to their concert career, Pekinel’s also pioneered and follow up on two main social responsibility projects. The first of these projects, aims to re-integrate music education in the curriculum of schools in Turkey starting from primary schools up to high schools. Since 2007, as a pilot case, they founded and financed the music department at TEVITÖL, a private boarding school for gifted and talented students from all over Turkey. The results obtained in the past three years already demonstrate the success and potential of this project. Furthermore, Pekinel’s also support the adoption of the Erasmus project at all existing conservatories in Turkey so as the curriculum of the conservatories nationwide meets internationally accepted equivalence standards. In this light, they initiated their project “Güher & Süher Pekinel Young Musicians on World Stages” with the financial support of the French company Onduline, based in Turkey. Following a selection they realized in six of the leading conservatories in Turkey, they granted scholarships to 13 young gifted musicians in five different instrument categories. In so doing, Pekinel’s provide and lead the young talents with the possibility to pursue their educations with the leading musicians and pedagogues in the USA and Europe and also take part in the major international competitions.
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