Team of Pianists
The Melbourne-based Team of Pianists is acclaimed for high standards of artistry and professionalism, and has captivated audiences in Australia and overseas for nearly twenty years through solo, chamber and concerto performance.
Coupled with commitment to the highest artistic standards in solo and chamber recitals, concerto performances, CDs and broadcasts, the Team is equally committed to promoting young musicians through masterclass programmes in metropolitan and regional areas alike.
The Team has produced nine CDs covering a wide range of music, including a number of exciting yet rarely recorded works, as well as two innovative videos and various publications on the art of piano playing and musicianship.
The members of the Team are Artists-in-Residence for the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) at Glenfern, the National Trust's Centre for the Arts and Culture. There the Team established the Glenfern Piano Institute, with innovative programmes including the Spring Piano School for primary and secondary school age students, weekend retreats for adult piano students, and masterclasses by Australian and overseas artists. Professor Max Cooke is Director, with Robert Chamberlain and Darryl Coote as the Partners.
Two previous members of the Team of Pianists, Sonny Chua and Linda Kouvaras have also released solo piano CDs with Move.
Artist's website: www.teamofpianists.com.au
Team of Pianists is featured on the following titles
Teamwork
An eminently listenable collection of piano music for four and six hands. Romantic, brilliant and companionable by turns, it is an exciting, all-stops-out tour de force from the Team of Pianists.
Peter Sculthorpe: Piano Music
Thirty years of piano music by Peter Sculthorpe, one of Australia's finest composers, in exemplary performances by the Team of Pianists, Michael Hannan and the composer himself.
New Norcia: A Spanish Rhapsody
The Team of Pianists present Spanish and Spanish-tinged piano music as a tribute to New Norcia’s Benedictine heritage, from Infante and de Falla to Ravel’s Rapsodie Espagnole.
Team of Pianists presents the Schimmel K 256
Australia’s Team of Pianists inaugurates Schimmel’s Artist Collection on the new K 256 concert grand, with Brahms duets, Romantic and Impressionist solos, Saint-Saëns with clarinet, and Carl Vine.
Producer
Sparkling Keys
Sparkling Keys celebrates the creative partnership of the National Trust and the Team of Pianists. Over a decade that partnership produced Twilight Chamber Music at Rippon Lea and concerts at Como, Labassa, Illawarra and Barwon Park.
Worlds Apart
Worlds Apart gathers music for piano duet, two and three pianos from France and Australia. At its centre is the first Australian recording of Max Bruch’s Concerto for two pianos and orchestra.
Homage to Brahms
A handsome recital paying homage to Brahms, with two-piano variations, late Intermezzi, the G major Violin Sonata, and the complete Liebeslieder Walzer.
Mozart at Melbourne
Mozart works for piano and violin, two pianos, piano duet and solo piano, played by members of the Team of Pianists with guest violinist Leonard Dommett. 1967 sonata performances sit beside later keyboard sessions for the bicentenary.
Hamilton
The Team of Pianists present a programme of excellent piano works for solo, duo and two pianos, spanning popular classics and Australian repertoire.
Pianists of Excellence
The Team of Pianists is acclaimed in Europe and Australia for vitality and freshness of technique. This recital presents solo piano works by Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms and Sculthorpe, played by four of its members.
Members of Team of Pianists
Max Cooke
Max Cooke's playing anchors decades of Team of Pianists recordings: Mozart sonatas and fantasies, Brahms for four hands and two pianos, and Sculthorpe's piano music shaped with melodic clarity and rhythmic charm.
Robert Chamberlain
Robert Chamberlain studied piano in Melbourne with Max Cooke, continued in Vienna with David Lutz and Igo Koch, and worked at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, coaching with artists including John Perry, Peter Donohoe, János Starker and Loránd Fenyves.
Darryl Coote
Darryl Coote's piano playing favours natural, unforced line and clear colour, whether alone or in the closely matched ensemble work that defines the Team of Pianists. He moves between Chopin, Schubert and Brahms and the Australian repertoire with the same plain-speaking poise.
Rohan Murray
Rohan Murray is an Australian pianist and a principal partner of Melbourne’s Team of Pianists. His Move recordings centre on solo piano, from late Romantic repertoire to contemporary Australian works.
Past members
Sonny Chua
Sonny Chua’s music assimilates seemingly incongruous ideas across a broad palette, drawing on classical, pop, jazz, rock, folk and techno influences with playful invention.
Linda Kouvaras
Linda Kouvaras is a pianist, composer and musicologist with a particular focus on contemporary Australian music. She has recorded, commissioned and premiered numerous new works for piano, and performs widely in city and regional centres.
Eric Raymond
Eric Raymond is a pianist associated with Melbourne’s Team of Pianists, heard on Move in solo Chopin including the Fourth Ballade.
Anne Bortolussi
Anne Bortolussi is a pianist associated with Melbourne’s Team of Pianists, appearing as a featured soloist on their Move recordings of solo piano and chamber repertoire.
Members of Team of Pianists
Alex Furman
Alex Furman is a pianist with Melbourne’s Team of Pianists, recorded by Move in solo, duo and two-piano repertoire.