Ravel Piano Duo
Biography Ravel Piano Duo
The Ravel Piano Duo
is one of Poland’s leading piano duos. Its members studied under the supervision of Professor Maja Nosowska at the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw. They developed their skills at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock, Germany, as postgraduate students of the duo Hans-Peter Stenzl and Volker Stenzl, gaining a diploma with the highest honours (2005). They have also worked under the guidance of such outstanding musicians as Jan Ekier, Alexander Tamir, Bracha Eden, Berndt Goetzke, Leonard Hokanson, Tomasz Herbut, and members of the Camerata Quartet.
The Ravel Piano Duo has received awards at numerous competitions, including the International Piano Competition in Marcopoulo, Greece (Third Prize, the first two prizes were not awarded), the 11th International Franz Schubert Competition in Jesenik, the Czech Republic (First Prize and a special award for the best performance of a work by Schubert) and the Valentino Bucchi International Competition of 20th and 21st‑Century Music in Rome (Second Prize).
The duo has developed a fine concert career, appearing across Poland and in most European countries. It has a vast repertoire which includes compositions both for four hands and for two pianos, from the Baroque period to the present. A special interest in French music resulted in a CD featuring works by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc. The duo also participated in the recording of a CD with Brahms’s works for chamber choir and piano duo (the Fryderyk Prize of the Polish recording industry, 2005) and of a CD with Paweł Łukaszewski’s Symphony No.2 (2012).
From several years the activity of both pianist is concentrated on Polish piano duet’s repertoire, its researches, editing, performing and recording. As a part of this project duet performed many concert in Europe and Asia and recorded three CD’s being the beginning of the longer series. First CD A Polish Kaleidoscope was awarded with prestigious Prize Fryderyk 2016. Its continuation A Polish Kaleidoscope 2 was also nominated for this prize in 2018. Third part of this anthology A Polish Kaleidoscope 3. Dance music for four hands was released in November 2019.
The Ravel Piano Duo has held grants from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Zonta International Foundation.
Agnieszka Kozło and Katarzyna Ewa Sokołowska also pursue a teaching career as faculty members of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, the State Fryderyk Chopin School of Music in Warsaw and numerous music courses.
