VIDEO
D&B Piano Duo - Danse macabre
D&B Piano Duo - Libertango
D&B Piano Duo - I Got Rhythm
D&B Piano Duo - Schubert's Fantasia in F minor
N E W S
ABOUT D&B DUO
Passion for piano and creativity of playing together brought Croatian-born couple Dubravka Vukalovic and Bruno Vlahek together into D&B Duo. Having met during their soloist studies at the Lausanne Conservatory of Music, they have been guided in piano duo playing by Swedish pianist and chamber music expert Dag Achatz. Their first concert as a duo in Lausanne in 2006 was an instant success and was praised for extraordinary performance of two piano works by Rachmaninov and Bernstein. Since then, their popularity is constantly growing by series of appearances in London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dubai, Berlin, Geneva, New York or Monte-Carlo. They are regular guests of some of the finest concert halls of China, where critics highlighted the „brilliant virtuosity of their dialogue“. They are prizewinners of the international piano duo competitions in Monaco 2013 and London 2022. Dubravka and Bruno were first Croatian pianists to perform monumental cycle "Visions de l'Amen" by Olivier Messiaen which they presented at the 50th anniversary of the Music Biennale Zagreb. Their performances were broadcast on TV and radio stations in many countries. In their repertoire, which consists of original works and arrangements for piano four-hands and two pianos, important place have works of living composers, some of which are dedicated specially to them. In 2021 they published a critically acclaimed CD “Scaramouche” with theatre-inspired works by Bernstein, Falla, Kabiljo and Milhaud.
Photo By: Damil Kalogjera
Dubravka
Dubravka Vukalovic regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, in Asia, North and South America, Middle East and Russia. She received her first music lessons from Olimpija Vojvoda at the music school of her hometown Varaždin, continuing her education in Russia at the Central Music School of Moscow's State Conservatory P. I. Tchaikovsky with Alexander Mndoyants and at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne (Switzerland) with Dag Achatz and J.-F. Antonioli. She obtained her master's degree in the class of Brazilian pianist and conductor Ricardo Castro as a scholarship holder of Swiss Foundation Max D. Jost while regular contacts with artists such as Rudolf Kehrer, Anatoly Katz, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Ralf Gothóni and Evgeny Mogilevsky had an important impact on her further career. Her academic and artistic projects were generously supported by Foundation of British Family Hallam. She gave her debut at the age of 14 as a soloist with Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and subsequently won the first prize at the Zlatko Grgošević international piano competition in Zagreb in 2000. She performed at festivals and venues such as ILAMS London, Glinka Festival in Moscow, Archipel Festival of Contemporary Music in Geneva, Festival de Primavera in Palma de Mallorca, Musica als Parcs in Barcelona, Music Biennale Zagreb, Dubrovnik Festival, Los Nocturnos de Cibeles in Madrid, Piano Series in Spanish Royal Palaces of La Granja and El Escorial, Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow, Dubai Opera, St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, Shenzhen Poly Theatre, Teatro Castro Alves in Salvador de Bahia etc., collaborated with violist Christophe Desjardins and Swiss-French ensemble "Namascae" and performed several China tours, which included concerts in some of the country's finest venues. Her concert appearances were recorded and broadcast on TV and radio stations in Croatia, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, China and on Radio Suisse Romande. She currently resides in Madrid and teaches masterclasses in many countries.
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Bruno
Bruno Vlahek was praised by the critics for his "fantastic virtuosity" and "depth of musical thought that bewitches the audience". He regularly appears as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, Russia and Middle East - in venues such as Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Mozarteum Salzburg, Dubai Opera, St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, Moscow's Kremlin, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Shanghai Concert Hall or Seoul Arts Centre, as well as at the festivals of Dubrovnik, Bolzano, Moscow, Vienna, Palma de Mallorca, Dar-es-Salaam or Verbier. He toured China several times and is a regular guest to some of the country's finest venues. After having graduated as one of the youngest students in history of the Zagreb Music Academy with Vladimir Krpan, he obtained a soloist diploma at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne with Jean-François Antonioli and received his master's degree with Vassily Lobanov at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, where he also studied composition and improvisation. Afterwards he studied with legendary pianist and pedagogue Dmitri Bashkirov at the Queen Sofía College of Music in Madrid. Bruno Vlahek is winner of highest prizes of many prestigious piano competitions, such as those of Paris, Shanghai or Lyon. In his native country he received a title of the Young Musician of The Year, awarded by the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and subsequently received the Swiss prize "Paderewski", Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe's Award, Pnina Salzman Memorial Award in Israel and Arists on Globe Award. At the same time, as a composer, he was awarded first prize at the International Composition Competitions "Cristóbal Halffter" in Spain, and won the discographic award „Porin“ as well as the „Stjepan Šulek Award“ for the best composition of the year 2019, among others. In 2021 he became laureate at the "New Classics - Organ Taurida" competition held in the Great Hall of the P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. For his achievements he was awarded by the Honorary Diploma from the hands of Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain. His performances were broadcasted on TV and radio stations such as France Musique, BBC 3, Dutch NPO Radio 4, Spanish RTVE and Catalunya Ràdio, Australian ABC Radio or Radio Suisse Romande, for which he recorded Saint-Saëns' 2nd Piano Concerto with Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. In 2020 he published three critically-acclaimed solo discs: „Touches“ dedicated to piano solo works by L. Bernstein, G. Ligeti and I. Stravinsky (Croatia Records), complete „Etudes-tableaux“ by S. Rachmaninov (PlayClassics) and selection of Scarlatti's Keyboard Sonatas (Naxos). He is also active as a concert organist and has written numerous orchestral, chamber, solo and choral works of various genres which have been performed on five continents in cities such as New York, Chicago, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Cambridge, Lisbon, Prague, Salzburg, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Seoul, Singapore and Sydney. His works are published in Croatia, Russia, the United Kingdom and the USA.
CONTACT US
To contact D&B Piano Duo for label, management, or booking inquiries, please email us at pianoduo.db@gmail.com and we will get back to you shortly.