Robert Kortgaard and Peter Tiefenbach describe One Piano Four Hands as a cross between negotiations and “territorial skirmishes” for space.
Picture two people side-by-side at one piano keyboard. It’s not very common these days, but before the Internet, television and radio, a night of entertainment often meant gathering around the old piano to sing songs or play duets from the classic repertoire or the popular parlour pieces that were composed specifically for these at-home entertainments.
The Pender Harbour Music Society presents the duo in concert next Sunday, March 24, at 2 p.m. at the School of Music in Madeira Park.
Kortgaard was born in Regina, and grew up in Calgary. After studying at the Juilliard School in New York City, he furthered his musical studies in Italy and England. He has performed as a soloist with major Canadian orchestras and has given recitals throughout Canada and the United States, as well as in England, Finland, Portugal, Italy, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, China and Japan. He is a favourite collaborator of many of Canada’s finest instrumental soloists, vocalists (including Measha Brueggergosman and Wendy Nielsen) and chamber groups.
He last visited Pender Harbour in October 2010 with Suzie Leblanc.
Also originally from Regina, Tiefenbach enjoys an extraordinarily varied career as a performer, composer, writer and teacher. One of Canada’s leading accompanists and vocal coaches, he has worked with many of the country’s foremost singers, including Maureen Forrester and Russell Braun. A Juno Award-nominated composer, his most recent commissions include works for the Orpheus Choir of Toronto and soprano Adrianne Pieczonka, the Saskatoon Children’s Choir, the Mississauga Children’s Choir, soprano Wendy Nielsen and Music Niagara. Since 1997, Tiefenbach is a member of the faculty of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.
Tickets are available at Harbour Insurance in Madeira Park; John Henry’s Marina in Garden Bay, the Sechelt Visitor Centre and Gaia’s Fair Trade in Gibsons.
