Duo Turgeon

Duo Turgeon, husband and wife piano team formed in 1994 by Edward Turgeon (born 13 July 1964 in Scarborough, ON), B MUS (Toronto) 1988, M MUS (Yale) 1993, MMA (Yale) 1994, DMA (Yale) 2000) and Anne Louise-Turgeon (born 10 Mar 1967 in Montréal, QC), B MUS (Toronto) 1989, M MUS (Yale) 1993, MMA (Yale) 1994, DMA (Yale) 2000).

Education and Formation of Duo

Their teachers included Marietta Orlov and James Anagnoson (Toronto), Peter Frankl and Boris Berman (Yale), Claude Frank and Marek Jablonski (Banff), Karl Ulrich Schnabel (New York) and duo pianists Richard and John Contiguglia.

Edward Turgeon and Anne Louise first played as a piano duo 1988-91 while employed by the Algoma Conservatory of Music and Algoma University College, but did not perform professionally until 1994. Duo Turgeon made its European debut that year at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and its U.S. debut in 1996 in New York at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

Performances

Duo Turgeon has performed with Canadian orchestras including the Hamilton Philharmonic and Esprit Orchestra and internationally with the New World Symphony, Austin Symphony, Scarborough Symphony, Novosibirsk Philharmonic and Minsk Philharmonic. The duo has participated in festivals such as the Montreal International Duo Piano Festival, Algoma Fall Festival, NEWMUFest (Toronto), Festival Duettissimo, the San Francisco International Chamber Music Festival, Salkind Duo Piano Festival, Chicago Duo Piano Festival, Festival Miami, Sanibel Chamber Music Festival, Austin Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the University of Texas Festiba.

Duo Turgeon has also appeared in concert for Music Toronto, the Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation, the Chopin Society of Mid-America, Music from Oakmont and performed at Toronto's Ford Centre for the Performing Arts (now the Toronto Centre for the Arts), Miami's Lincoln Theater and the Round Top Center for the Arts in Damariscotta, Maine. In 2009 the Duo made its Asian debut as invited guest artists at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore.

Critically acclaimed for their highly cohesive and dramatic interpretations as a duo, the Turgeons also perform chamber music individually with other artists who have included James Campbell, Sidney Harth, Michael Rusinek, Ransom Wilson, Chee-Yun, David Jolley, Ivan Chan and Laura Gilbert. Anne Louise-Turgeon founded and conducted the Palm Beach Sinfonietta in 2003 and performs with South Florida's Chameleon Chamber Ensemble.

Duo Turgeon has premiered works of composers Alex Pauk, Timothy Sullivan, Arthur Weisberg and Aaron Copland. As winners of the 1997 Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition, the Turgeons gave the world premiere and later recorded John Corigliano's Chiaroscuro for two pianos tuned a quarter tone apart (Vanguard Classics SVC-106HD, 1999).

Broadcasts and Recordings

Many of Duo Turgeon's concerts have been broadcast by CBC Radio, and the Duo was named Artist of the Month (April 2007) by CBC's Galaxie network. It has also been heard on Dutch Public Radio, WGBH (Boston), WQXR and WNYC (New York), WFMT (Chicago) and public radio networks in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Duo Turgeon has appeared frequently on National Public Radio's "Performance Today," and on the BBC in a documentary devoted to the music of Moritz Moszkowski. The Turgeons are featured artists in the PBS television documentary "Two Pianos - One Passion."

Duo Turgeon's recordings include Banff live from Carnegie Hall. Marquis Classics 229 (1998), Winners Circle. Dranoff International Two-Piano Foundation (1998), Romantic Dances. Marquis Classics 241 (1999), Golden Fire - the music of Timothy Sullivan. Class X Discs (2001) and Latin American Journey. Marquis/EMI 303 (2005).

Teaching and Adjudicating

Since their appointments at the Algoma Conservatory of Music and Algoma University College (1988-91), Anne Louise-Tourgeon taught piano at Mount Holyoke College and both have held teaching positions in Boca Raton at the Harid Conservatory and since 1998 at Florida Atlantic University, where Duo Turgeon is also Ensemble in Residence.

Duo Turgeon has given masterclasses in Canada, the United States and Europe and together or individually the Turgeons have served on the juries of competitions such as the Markham Music Festival, Hamilton Kiwanis Music Festival, national finals of the Canadian Music Competitions, Murray Dranoff International Two-Piano Competition, Premio Brasil International Piano Competition, National Society of Arts and Letters Competition, Chicago Liszt 200 International Duo Piano Competition and the Isidor Bajic International Piano Competition. They have been senior examiners for the Royal Conservatory of Music since 1990.

Awards and Honours

Each of them recipients of major awards and prizes during their years at the University of Toronto and Yale University, Edward and Anne-Louise Turgeon took prizes as piano soloists in competitions including the Canadian Music Competitions, the CIBC National Competitive Festival and the international piano competitions of Cleveland and Sydney. As well as winning first prize in the 1997 Dranoff competition, Duo Turgeon received first prize in the International Schubert Competition for Piano Duos (Czech Republic, 1995) In 2005 the Duo was honoured with an invitation to join the International Roster of Steinway Artists. Edward and Anne Louise-Turgeon were named honorary presidents of the World Piano Teachers Association in 2010, also receiving its Diploma of Excellence in Performing.