Piano Duo Scholtes and Janssens

Among the leading European duo piano pairs, the Scholtes Janssens Piano Duo has performed internationally and made several recordings. The duo's vigorous concert career has taken it as far afield as Zimbabwe and Indonesia. Closer to home in the Netherlands, the group has been honored with many prizes and has established two festivals devoted to duo piano music and chamber music. The Scholtes Janssens Piano Duo released the album Simeon ten Holt: Canto Ostinato on the Challenge Classics label in 2024. The Scholtes Janssens Piano Duo consists of pianists Lestari Scholtes (born 1984) and Gwylim Janssens (born 1985). The names Pianoduo Scholtes & Janssens and Piano Duo Scholtes & Janssens have also been used. The pair studied separately in the Dutch university system, both earning cum laude degrees; Scholtes studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Jan Wijn, and Janssens at the Codarts Conservatory with Bart van de Roer. Both went on to the Fontys Conservatory in Tilburg for studies with Ton Demmers; it was there that they met. They formed the Scholtes Janssens Piano Duo in 2003 and went on for studies as a duo with Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater, und Medien in Hannover, Germany. The pair attracted engagements beyond the Netherlands within a few years and made their debut at New York's Carnegie Hall in 2009. The following year, they released their debut album, featuring works by Rachmaninov, Debussy, and Ravel, on the Quattro Live label. In 2014, the duo released the album Paris! on the Etcetera label. The touring schedule of the Scholtes Janssens Piano Duo has been notably busy. The duo has performed concertos with orchestras in the Netherlands and beyond, including the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Israel Philharmonic. The duo's recital career has taken it to 30 countries across several continents, including Mongolia, Ethiopia, China, and Japan. The pair frequently appears on Dutch and Belgian radio, and they are in demand at festivals, including the Festival of Bath in Britain, the Basilica Festival of Flanders, the Tengiz Amirejibi International Music Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the International Piano Duo Festival Poland. The Scholtes Janssens Piano Duo has founded two festivals, the Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam and the annual Kamermuziek Festival Schoorl in the northwestern Netherlands. Signed to the Challenge Classics label, the duo released a recording of Mozart's Sonata for two pianos in D major, K. 448, and Schubert's Fantasie for piano four hands, D. 940, in 2021, following that up in 2024 with an album devoted to Simeon ten Holt's Canto Ostinato. ~ James Manheim, Rovi