Piano Duo Eduard & Johannes Kutrowatz
Biography Piano Duo Eduard & Johannes Kutrowatz
Eduard & Johannes Kutrowatz
studied first at the Josef Haydn Conservatory in Eisenstadt piano with Uwe Wolff, then at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Johannes chose as his subsidiary subjects clarinet (with Peter Schmidl) and conducting (with Karl Österreicher); Eduard studied all facets of percussion (with Richard Hochrainer and Walter Veigl). The initial stimulus for studying original works for four hands or two pianos came from their piano teacher Renate Kramer-Preisenhammer. Now Eduard & Johannes Kutrowatz has been teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Their work as a piano duo gained decisive impetus at master classes in Freiburg with Karl Ulrich Schnabel (the only course held in Europe until then by the son of the legendary Arthur Schnabel, specialist for piano duo and modern pedal technique) and in Lockenhaus with Franz Rupp, the famous violinist Fritz Kreisler’s congenial piano partner. In 1986 they won their first international competition in Stresa, Italy, where they won 1st prize in the piano duo category. Numerous awards and honours followed: for both brothers, among others, the Cultural Promotion Prize of the Province of Burgenland, the Music Prize of the Theodor Kery Foundation, the Grand Decoration of Honour and the Commander's Cross of the Province of Burgenland, the EUROPAN 2017 and 2019 Franz Liszt Honorary Prize of the Weimar Classic Foundation. Johannes Kutrowatz was also a prizewinner of the international Schubert Competition Graz 1992 and received a Bösendorfer scholarship. The varied training of the two musicians, their wide range of activities (as pianists, chamber musicians, lied accompanists, conductors) and their keen interest in other fields of the arts certainly contribute to the great depth of expression and the versatility of their playing. It is probably also due to the fact that making music in the chamber music category of piano duo requires an enormously constructive dialogue and fruitful dispute among the players, as may be better achieved “among brothers”.
Performances in major concert halls around the world (Vienna - Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Eisenstadt - Haydnsaal, London - Wigmore Hall and South Bank Centre, Toronto - Centre of the Arts, Munich - Herkulessaal, Tokyo - Suntory Hall, New York - Carnegie Hall and 92nd Y) and at international music festivals such as Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Haydnfestspiele Eisenstadt, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Chamber Music Festival Kremerata Lockenhaus, Kuhmo-Festival (Finland), Kowmung Festival Australia, Liszt Festival Raiding. Radio and television recordings, as well as much praised CD albums of works by Schubert, Brahms, Strauss, Liszt, Gershwin, Bernstein, Takács, Piazzolla, Sakamoto, Bach, Pärt and Brubeck document her artistic work. With the founding and artistic direction of the annual international festival "klangfruehling" at Burg Schlaining in 2001, which they also directed until 2015, Eduard and Johannes Kutrowatz realized their dream of designing, experimenting and programming in a global context. Since 2007 Johannes Kutrowatz has been the artistic director of the Yamanakako-Klangsommer festival in Japan. Since 2009 the brothers have been the artistic directors of the international Liszt Festival Raiding.
Anton (Toni) Mühlhofer
born in Austria in 1958, studied jazz percussion with Prof. Erich Bachträgl at the Conservatory of Music in Vienna and classical percussion instruments at the University of Music and Performing Arts. Further studies at the Berklee College of Music Boston, USA (jazz percussion). Numerous trips to Cuba where he deepened his knowledge of Afrocuban music with Carlos Aldama Perez at the institute „Conjunto Folklorico Nacional“.Toni decided to produce his own albums to express his passion for the Latin world and Cuban music in particular. Foundation of the band CAOBA (Latin Jazz). He has performed with outstanding artists of the international music scene: Peter Alexander, Alegre Correa, Eddie „Lockjaw“ Davis, Plácido Domingo, Jim Galloway, Fatty George, Steve Hacket, Thomas Hampson, André Hellers Wintergarten (Varieté), Udo Jürgens, Johnny Logan, George Masso, Erika Pluhar, Angel Romero, Arturo Sandoval, Toots Thielemans, Hubert Tubbs (Tower of Power), Leo Wright, Joe Zawinul among others. He toured in Austria, Europe and Asia with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and as percussionist of the Vienna Instrumental Soloists. From 1987 to 2001 he was drummer with the Musical Orchestra of the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, since 2002 he is music teacher at the Leonard-Bernstein-Institute of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Latin Percussion and Jazz Drums).
