Duo Vivace
Duo Vivace, a New York-based ensemble, evolved from the piano duet collaborations between Eleonor Bindman and Susan Sobolewski, who were both students of Vladimir Feltsman and were frequent performers in his master classes at SUNY—The College at New Paltz. The ensemble formally inaugurated its performing career with a piano four-hand recital debut at Carnegie (Weill) Recital Hall in 1993. In 1995, after its critically acclaimed New York two-piano debut, Duo Vivace was invited to perform at the First International Duo-Piano Festival in Quebec, Canada. The duo has since performed and presented master classes at such venues as Barnard, College, Westminster Choir College, Ithaca College, SUNY/Nassau Community College, Ramapo College, the Kleinert-James Gallery, Rutgers University, Merkin Hall, and Steinway Hall. Duo Vivace has also been guest artists at summer music festivals such as the Piano Institute at SUNY/New Paltz, the Palisades Arts Festival, the Festival of Performances (Bethlehem, PA), and Music in the Mountains. The duo performed the World Premiere of the four-hand version of Robert Starer’s Concerto for Two Pianos with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, and they have also been regular performers at the Old Stone House concert series in Brooklyn, NY. Duo Vivace’s recording Out of the Blue features the original two-piano version of Gustav Holst’s The Planets, as well as music of Bernstein and Gershwin.
As Duo Vivace continues its ongoing history of music-making, fun and friendship, it looks forward to presenting Eleonor’s new arrangements of The Brandenburg Duets, as well as other new and enduring classics.