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Pekinel sisters

Güher Pekinel and Süher Pekinel (born March 29, 1953, Istanbul) as identical twins, are world-renowned Turkish pianists performing mostly in duet.

The Pekinels received their first piano lessons from their pianist mother. They appeared in public first at the age of six, and by nine years old they made their orchestral debut with the Ankara Philharmonic Orchestra. After attending the Paris Conservatory and the Frankfurter Musikhochschule, Rudolf Serkin invited the twins to continue their studies with him at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The sisters completed their musical training at the Juilliard School in 1978, having also studied with Claudio Arrau and Leon Fleisher. Furthermore, Adele Marcus and Yvonne Loriod were their teachers in solo and Mieczyslaw Horszowski in duo.

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 in 1978.

Following their musical training, Güher and Süher Pekinel were first discovered by Herbert von Karajan in 1984 and engaged to appear at the Salzburg Festival, 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 and Israel Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Cleveland, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, RAI Milano, St. Cecilia and many other orchestras. Extended recital tours took Güher and Süher Pekinel to the major music centers and most important festivals of Europe, the United States, and Japan.

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 23 countries worldwide through the Austrian television. The season 2001-2002 saw new series of concerts with the Trio Jacques Loussier in Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Their concert at the Schwetzinger Festspiele in June 2001 was broadcast live by SWR TV and radio. Other performances include concerts with Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Toulouse, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monaco, Zuricher Kammerorchester and Philharmonisches Orchester Hamburg and Braunschweig as well recitals in Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Norway and France. They toured with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem (Israel), following concerts with Zurich Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and recitals in Germany, Czech Republic and Italy among other cities.

Recent highlights include their performance of the Mozart concerto for two pianos at the Salzburg Festival and concerts with the Frankfurter Museumsorchester under Michel Plasson at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Germany. Among the 2000-2001 season‘s engagements were recital performances in Germany, Switzerland, Hongkong Art Festival as well as concerts with the Dresden Philharmonic at the Semperoper in Dresden and the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon. In addition, they appeared in two gala concerts in Lucerne, Switzerland with the Wuerttembergische Philharmonie and with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and Marek Janowski for the opening of the new concert hall in Monte Carlo.

Today, the Pekinel sisters rank internationally as a piano duo of extraordinary mastery and remarkable expressiveness. They are recognized worldwide as a most exceptional duo of artistry and magnetism. Their performances in recital and with the most leading orchestras are considered to demonstrate extraordinary musicality, keyboard command and unanimity of style and execution, and making international musical headlines. The German newspaper Die Welt wrote "Among the finest in the top group of the best piano duos". As twins sitting "back to back", they are the only duo, playing without any eye contact.

Exacting in their musical choices, the sisters rarely play transcriptions but prefer instead to explore the existing literature in depth from Bach, Mozart to Lutosławski and Boulez.

• Bach
  • Concerto in C minor
  • Concerto in C major
  • Concerto for three pianos in G major
• Mozart
  • Concerto K 365
  • Concerto for three pianos K 242
• Mendelssohn
  • Concerto in E major
  • Concerto in E flat major
• Bruch - Concerto in E major
• Poulenc - Concerto
• Britten - Concerto
• Dutilleux - Concerto
• B.A. Zimmermann – Concerto

The Pekinels made numerous recordings of most important duo-piano literature for well-known labels. Two recordings were released in 1999 and 2000. One was with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Neville Marriner, featuring the Bruch, Mozart and Mendelssohn concertos. Their recording in collaboration with the renowned Trio Jacques Loussier on jazz renditions of Bach’s concertos for two and three pianos, "Take Bach" had worldwide record sales. In 2002, a CD containing of a recital program of Brahms and Saint-Saëns works was released. In June 2003, Pekinels recorded complete Bach two and three piano concertos with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and Howard Griffits.

The Turkish Government awarded the title "Devlet Sanatçısı" (literally "State Artist" or "National Artist") to the Pekinel sisters in 1991, a rare honor. The television channels French-German ARTE, German ARD and Turkish ATV made TV documentaries of one-hour each about their musical lives.