In late 2019, the Australian Piano Duo Festival worked in conjunction with the piano students of the Young Conservatorium, Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, to record numerous standard works of the piano duet repertoire. With the release of the Australian Music Examinations Board's (AMEB) new Collaborative Piano Syllabus in late 2018 (which includes piano duets alongside instrumental/piano works), we decided to use selections from this repertoire as a basis. The collaborative syllabus was designed to give students broader experiences, develop their listening, musicianship and ensemble skills, and to reflect the skillset that professional pianists must possess, therefore making it an ideal vehicle for the students to learn, and explore the piano duet repertoire.
The performances were recorded in the Ian Hanger Recital Hall, with the expertise of sound engineer David Spearritt, videographer Morgan Roberts, roaming videographer Gwyn Roberts, and Young Con specialist piano lecturers Angela Turner, Jenni Flemming and Mimia Margiotta acting as producers.
Each performance was captured in the spirit of a live performance, and utilised multi-cam recording to be able to show different angles of both players. Students were thrilled to be performing on a beautiful Yamaha CFX piano. For many students, these were the first experiences in a professional recording environment. The videos were later edited by Angela Turner, with colour grading by Morgan Roberts and vital ongoing support by David Spearritt.
The project was made possible by the considerable generosity of the keyboard staff of the Young Conservatorium, including Jenni Flemming, Angela Turner, Mark Griffiths, Suzanna Hlinka, Rachel Hocking, Carolyn Jacoby, Aaron Liu and Mimia Margiotta, the support of the Young Conservatorium Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, and the Australian Piano Duo Festival.
View the performances here or on the dedicated youtube channel.