Pekinel sisters
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Güher Pekinel and Süher Pekinel (born March 29, 1951,
Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...
) are
twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...
Turkish
pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
s performing mostly in duet. The Pekinels are among the world's most well known piano duos.
Jean-Pierre Thiollet Jean-Pierre Thiollet (; born 9 December 1956) is a French writer and journalist. Primarily living in Paris, he is the author of numerous books and one of the national leaders of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CEDI), a ...
, ''88 notes pour piano solo'', « Solo de duo », Neva Editions, 2015, p.98.


Career

They appeared in public first at the age of six, and by nine years old they had made their orchestral debut with the Ankara Philharmonic Orchestra. After their education in Paris with
Yvonne Loriod Yvonne Louise Georgette Loriod-Messiaen (; 20 January 1924 – 17 May 2010) was a French pianist, teacher, and composer, and the second wife of composer Olivier Messiaen. Her sister was the Ondes Martenot player Jeanne Loriod. Biography Loriod ...
and attending the Frankfurter Musikhochschule, the twins were invited by
Rudolf Serkin Rudolf Serkin (28 March 1903 – 8 May 1991) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century. Early life, childhood debut, and education Serkin was born in ...
to continue their studies with him at the Curtis Institute of Music in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. The sisters completed their musical training at the
Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
New York in 1978, having also studied with
Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and B ...
,
Leon Fleisher Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...
and
Adele Marcus Adele Marcus (February 22, 1906 May 3, 1995) was an American pianist and instructor whose career was based at the Juilliard School in New York City. Life and career Marcus was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the youngest of 13 children of a rabb ...
. At the age of 18, the Pekinels shared the first prize at the German National Piano Competition as soloists, followed by several first prizes in national and international competitions in Germany, Italy, France and USA as a duo and also as soloists, including the first prize in representing Germany at the UNESCO World Piano Competition as duo in 1978. Following their musical training, Güher and Süher Pekinel were first discovered by
Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
in 1984 and engaged to appear at the
Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...
, to which they returned frequently in subsequent years. They have since embarked on a worldwide career and played with leading orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna, New York, Israel and
London Philharmonic The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...
, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Leipziger Gewandhaus,
Tokyo Philharmonic The is recognized as the oldest symphony orchestra in Japan. It was founded in 1911 and debuted at the original Matsuzakaya store in Nagoya as the . It relocated to Tokyo in 1938. As of 2005, it has 166 members. The orchestra plays frequently a ...
, Los Angeles Philharmonic and many others. Extended recital and orchestra tours took Güher and Süher Pekinel to the major music centers and most important festivals of Europe, the United States, Asia and Japa


Discography

The Pekinels made numerous recordings of most important duo-piano literature for well-known labels such as
Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
, Chandos,
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
,
Teldec Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group. History Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...
,
Warner Classics Warner Classics is the classical music arm of Warner Music Group. The label began issuing new recordings under the Warner Classics banner in 1991. The company also includes the Erato Records, Teldec Records and NVC Arts labels. Based in France, ...
and
Arthaus White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant (game publisher), Lion Rampant
/ Unitel. Their association with Teldec began in 1990 and later continued with Warner Classics, results a huge music archive within a 25-year collaboration. Their collaboration with world-renowned jazz musician
Jacques Loussier Jacques Loussier (26 October 1934 – 5 March 2019) was a French pianist and composer. He arranged jazz interpretations of many of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, such as the ''Goldberg Variations''. The Jacques Loussier Trio, founded in 195 ...
on the album “Take Bach”, featuring interpretations of Bach's concertos for two and three pianos, was a worldwide bestseller and was released numerous times by Warner Classics. Shortly after the release of their concert CD with the
Zurich Chamber Orchestra The Zurich Chamber Orchestra (Zürcher Kammerorchester; ZKO, German abbreviation) is a Swiss chamber orchestra based in Zurich. The ZKO's principal concert venue in Zurich is the Tonhalle. The ZKO also performs in Zurich at the Schauspielhaus Zü ...
and Howard Griffiths in 2006, featuring recital programmes and works by
Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...
and Saint-Saens, it was listed as Best Album of the Year by ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'', ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' and ''Gramophone Magazine''. In the 2006–2007 season, their entire CD range was re-released by Warner Classics. The Pekinels have appeared on numerous radio and TV shows and have been the subject of two 60-minute documentaries, the first of which was produced by the German ZDF channel and the second entitled “Double Life” was produced by ARD-Arte and was later licensed by Unitel. A special event was a performance at the opening concert of the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, which was broadcast live to 32 countries worldwide through the Austrian television. They have given concerts together with the most renowned conductors like
Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the fou ...
,
Sir Colin Davis Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom h ...
, Sir Neville Marriner, Riccardo Chailly, Paavo Jaervi,
Michel Plasson Michel Plasson (born 2 October 1933, Paris, France) is a French conductor. Plasson was a student of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1962, he was a prize-winner at the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. ...
,
Marek Janowski Marek Janowski (born 18 February 1939 in Warsaw) is a Polish-born German conductor. He is currently chief conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic. Childhood Janowski grew up in Wuppertal, near Cologne, after his mother traveled there at the st ...
and
Christoph von Dohnányi Christoph von Dohnányi (; born 8 September 1929) is a German conductor. Biography Youth and World War II Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to Hans von Dohnanyi, a German jurist of Hungarian ancestry, and Christine Bonhoeffer. His uncle ...
. The Güher & Süher Pekinel “Live in Concert” DVD, released by Arthaus Music in February 2010, features the 2007 New Year Concerts in Zurich and Lucerne, along with their other recent performances. Another critically acclaimed Arthaus Music release dated April 2011, the Bach Jazz DVD brought together their ECO concert under the baton of Sir Colin Davis and the duo and trio Bach-Jazz piano concertos with Jacques Loussier. Celebrating the centennial of the first performance of Igor Stravinsky's “The Rite of Spring”,
Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
, DG and Philips released a collection of the most important recordings of that work between 1913 and today, in December 2012. This CD-Box is also including the Pekinels DG recording in 1984. The 50CD-Box Set ‘’Legacy’’ with works of selected artists, released by Erarto/Teldec in November 2013, includes 5 recordings by Pekinels. Their last DVD and CD with live recordings of Bartok’s Concerto and live recital recordings of
Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
, Mozart,
Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
and
Infante ''Infante'' (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as Infant or translated as Prince, is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to th ...
, was released in September 2014 by Arthaus / Unitel and was nominated for the 2015 ‘’Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik’’. The Turkish Government awarded the title "Devlet Sanatçısı" (literally "
State Artist State Artist ( tr, Devlet Sanatçısı, also sometimes translated as "National Artist") is an honorary title granted to prominent artists by the government of Turkey for their contributions to the Turkish culture. It was established in 1971 by the ...
" or "National Artist") to the Pekinel sisters in 1991, a rare honor. Güher and Süher Pekinel are holders of honorary doctorate degrees from Boğaziçi University as well as holders of the 2013 Istanbul Culture and Arts Foundation “Honorary Award” for their lifetime achievements.


Education projects

Güher and Süher Pekinel have also pioneered three significant music education projects. Their first project aims to further professional music education in Turkey to meet international standards. Entitled “Young Musicians on World Stages”, the project, sponsored by Turkish firm Koç /
Tüpraş Türkiye Petrol Rafinerileri A.Ş. is a company in Turkey, operating four refineries with a total capacity to handle an annual 30 mn tons of crude. Introduction Tüpraş operates four oil refineries, three of which process imported crude. The 11 ...
, supports twelve young musicians by granting them qualitatively instruments and scholarships to study with distinguished musicians and pedagogues in Europe and to participate in international music competitions. Within five years, the scholars have been awarded seven first prizes and four second prizes at international competitions. Pekinel's received the best social responsibility award for their “Young Musicians on World Stages” project in 2011. Their second project was launched in 2007 by founding the G&S Pekinel Music Department in the private boarding school TEVITÖL for gifted children from throughout Turkey. This scheme has achieved integration for the first time in Turkey into the standard musical curriculum and is now accepted as credit at notable universities. The third project initiated by Pekinels’ concentrates on their vision to establish the globally implemented Orff Schulwerk Method at kindergartens and primary schools in Turkey to raise the creativity, self-confidence, and analytical skills of children. Since September 2010, the Ministry of National Education has been working within the framework of a joint protocol to ensure that this important project succeeds.


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1951 births Classical piano duos Identical twin females Living people Musicians from Istanbul Turkish classical pianists Turkish women pianists Turkish twins Twin musical duos Women classical pianists Female musical duos Naturalized citizens of Germany Sibling musical duos