Estibaliz
Gastesi & Márcio Bezerra
Márcio
We
try to have a mix of standard and contemporary repertoire in all our
programmes. We find connections between the new pieces and the
older pieces in the programme. For instance, we may work with a new
composer who loves Schubert, so we pair his works with Schubert and
somehow that works very well. Or we may work with a composer who
uses pentatonic scales so we pair her music with Debussy and that
also works so well.
Estibaliz
Generally
around 30% of our repertoire is new music. We find that when given
the chance, audiences like listening to new music, people are often
surprised that they like new music so much, sometimes more than the
older pieces they may already know.
Márcio I was raised in Brazil, in Santos - a city that had no music except
an annual new music festival. The festival is now fifty years old,
and at that time it was run by Gilberto Mendes
who
programmed post-modern music. He was a very open person, a composer
who also worked in a bank. The concerts were free and there were
usually around seven people in the audience and I was one of them!
New music was the only kind of music I'd hear and it always
interested me.
In
our duo we play around 20 new pieces of music on a regular basis.
That doesn't count premières, it doesn't really matter to us whether
we play a première or not. To us the performance is more important
than “the premiere” so we don't really count the number or
premières we've done; when we take up a work we tend to play it more
than once.
Estibaliz I
come from Bilbao. I met Márcio in a summer camp in Spain and then
we met again by chance at the Hartt School in Connecticut. We mostly
work together but sometimes one of us will play solo if the programme
requires it. For example, in our minimalism programme I play a
Philip Glass solo piano piece.
Márcio We have our roles. Estibaliz always takes Primo …
Estibaliz … yes, he has Secondo, because it's he who has the pedal ...
Márcio ...
and it's easier for me to be quieter than her so I take the Secondo
role!
Estibaliz Márcio is more into the harmonics, and the chords and the theory,
I'm more into the melody and how the music sounds, so it suits both
of us to stick to those roles.
Our
vision is that playing the music is more important than fame. We
like to be in contact with composers, we're not really looking for a
big international career, with managers, extensive travel, and so on.
We love what we do and we're really happy we're in a situation where
we play what we want where we want, it's good to be independent.
Márcio We
try to encourage everyone to play new work. My advice is to play
contemporary music - Mozart cannot help you. Playing new music is
important, it's what keeps music alive. The problem with
contemporary music is that the fingering and the chords are difficult
to get used to, so I'd encourage everyone to start contemporary music
as early as possible. The audience is surprised when they hear new
music, sometimes they comment that living music is so much better
than older music.
Estibaliz Once when we played, someone told me she couldn't sleep for a whole
night, she was so stimulated after hearing the new music we'd played.
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Short bio
Internationally acclaimed Duo Gastesi-Bezerra has delighted audiences for over a decade with exciting programs of traditional and contemporary music for piano ensemble. Billed by the American Record Guide, as “a strong combination, playing very well together — often indistinguishable,” pianists Estibaliz Gastesi and Márcio Bezerra are staunch supporters of new music. They have commissioned and premiered more than twenty works by renowned and upcoming composers.
Connect with Duo Gastesi Bezerra
Website www.duogastesibezerra.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/marcio.bezerra.142