TWOPIANISTS

Luís Magalhães and Nina Schumann met in January 1999 in the USA, while studying at the University of North Texas with Vladimir Viardo. Following their marriage later that year, they formed the Magalhães-Schumann Piano Duo and have since performed to great acclaim across the USA, Portugal, Germany, Austria, South Africa and Mozambique .

In 2006, the pianists have recorded, at a studio in South Africa, their first record as a duo, a double CD launched by Universal Music: “Complete Works for Two Pianos – Sergei Rachmaninoff”.

The sound engineer was German Wolf-Dieter Karwatky (www.bkl-recording-group.de), a five time Grammy winner, who usually records for Deutsche Grammophon and who had already worked with some of the most famous classical artists.

This project was supported by South Africa Embassy and University of Stellenbosch, where both pianists are teachers. For the recording, they used two Bosendorfer pianos and they were invited by Bosendorfer Austria to play in November 28th 2005 at City Salon, Musikverein, Vienna.

The record was launched in June 24th 2006 at the annual Maecenas Concert of the National Palace of Ajuda, in Lisbon. The concert, supported by Nestlé and IPPAR, was followed by several show-cases and concerts around the country.

Along with the CD, a DVD was edited, with interviews about the first TwoPianists’ record, their careers and personal life, once Luís and Nina are married and teach at the University of Stellenbosch.