Hearing the Anderson and Roe Piano Duo live!

by Scott

Last month, we had the privilege of attending our first Anderson and Roe Piano Duo live concert! It is not an exaggeration to say that this piano duo is one that most other piano duos look up to for inspiration, and they show the limitless possibilities of the genre. The performance was both refined and passionate, and was bursting with creativity and personality.

I met Greg Anderson back in 2005 at a piano competition in Texas, where after telling him that I’d be visiting New York City (where Greg was living) for my grad school auditions, he graciously offered to host me during my stay. (It’s always fascinating to rekindle old ties, and see where our life paths took us! Earlier this week, I said hi to an adjudicator at a clarinet competition that I was accompanying - he adjudicated me when I was a teenager, and we have kept in touch after all these years. And yesterday, one of the students who I accompanied at UBC’s concerto competition in 2010, was now adjudicating the Vancouver Kiwanis festival!)

We thoroughly enjoyed Greg and LIz’s duo concert, and look forward to hearing them perform live again in the future! They talked to the audience in an informative yet casual manner and their playing was full of surprises, switching places mid-performance, playing the strings inside the piano, performing with the “player piano” function using their own recordings (turning certain pieces into 8-hand arrangements!). They also had some creative combinations of styles, something that we like to do as well!