Piano duo ready for the big time

It's been a busy year for the Duehlmeier-Gritton Duo. Winners of the 2004 "Instrumental Group" category of the Best of State contest, they now have an upcoming recital at Carnegie Hall.

Before they leave for New York for their Carnegie Hall concert, University of Utah piano faculty members Bonnie Gritton and Susan Duehlmeier will be giving a recital with the same program, so that those of us who won't be attending on the East Coast have a chance to hear the duo in action.

The program, said Duehlmeier, focuses on some pieces originally written for orchestra that have been transcribed either by the composer or someone else. "We're playing a program where we're trying to capture some of the orchestra colors in the piano."

Duehlmeier said the opportunity came about after Ana Maria Trenchi di Bottazzi, president of the International Pinault Society, heard some students of Gritton and Duehlmeier play. She offered to sponsor a concert featuring the duo, leaving the program up to the performers.

"I think it's really an accessible program," said Duehlmeier, "because a lot of it will be familiar to people, like the Dance Macabre." She added that they selected pieces they felt would be enjoyable to a diverse audience, that they could identify with — such as an arrangement from "Porgy and Bess."

"Another thing that's fun is the interplay between the two pianos," Duehlmeier said. "The pieces that we chose have a lot of really fun and creative writing that — even from a physical standpoint — is really fun to watch. So we hope the audience really enjoys it."

Duehlmeier said that she and Gritton first got together as a duo about 18 years ago. It was for a faculty concert at the U., playing the Bach Double Concerto. After that, they did a few things just for fun — and then the invitations started coming in. "Every time, we would think, 'This is the last time,' and then someone else would ask us to play," she recalled.

In their time playing together, the duo has given multiple performances with the Utah Symphony and made appearances in China, Austria, Poland, Washington, D.C., Scotland and Israel, among other places.

More recently, they recorded a CD with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, playing a double concerto by local composer Jeff Manookian. They also recorded a CD of Gershwin's Concerto in F with the Czech Radio Orchestra. Fellow U. music professor Henry Wolking's two-piano jazz concerto, "Letting Midnight Out on Bail," was recorded with the Warsaw Philharmonic.

"We've had a lot of fun," said Duehlmeier.

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If you go. . .

What: Susan Duehlmeier and Bonnie Gritton

Where: Libby Gardner Concert Hall

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

How much: $3, $7 and $10

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E-mail: rcline@desnews.com