This versatile piano duo has met with accolades throughout the United States and
Europe as they have performed works from Bach to Stravinsky. Most recently
engagementshave taken them to Asia for a performance in Nanjing, China, Austria for a
recital at Bosendorfer Hall in Vienna, Poland for a performance on the Autumn Warsaw
Festival, Boston/Prague Music Festival, Washington D.C. for a concert in honor of the
Ambassador from Mongolia, Connecticut for an appearance on the Friends of Music Chamber
Series, Germany for the Lake Konstanz International Chamber Music Festival, Scotland
for the International Piano Festival, and Israel for a featured concert at the
Jerusalem Center. They have also performed on the Dame Myra Hess series in both
Chicago and Los Angeles where their recitals were broadcast on public radio. Orchestral
performances include numerous collaborations with the Utah Symphony as well as with
the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Czech Radio Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Westminster Chamber Orchestra and the
Utah Philharmonia.
They are listed Steinway artists and have released an all-Gershwin CD, a recording of the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Manookian with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and a recording of the Wolking Jazz Two-Piano Concerto with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra which was nominated for a Grammy in 2002 on the MMC label. The Gershwin Concerto in F (arr. Manookian) with the Czech Radio Orchestra was released in October 2005 on the MMC label. Their Carnegie Hall recital "The Piano as Orchestra" will be released later this year. Their concert met with the following praise: " I would like to praise the rhythmic vitality, virtuosic technical ease and vivid orchestral coloring in every moment of this concert. The synchronicity of these two artists was remarkable." Phillip Diekow, reviewer.
Having received Doctorates at opposite ends of the country--Duehlmeier with Leonard Shure at Boston University and Gritton with Aube Tzerko at the University of California at Los Angeles--the two began performing as faculty members at the University of Utah, where they discovered that they had similar and complementary musical ideas, perhaps due to their training in the Schnabel tradition. Their continued collaboration has included not only major concert venues but educational outreach programs.