First Prizewinners at the 3rd International Piano Duo Competition, Tokyo

The Cook "&" Stanley Piano Duet was formed in 1984, shortly after Berendina Cook and Matthew Stanley met whilst studying music at Royal Holloway College, University of London. The following year, they were invited to record the music for a new ballet by John Hine entitled A Christmas Carol which they arranged specifically for two pianos ("convincingly played" - Gramophone). They then went on to broadcast diverse musical programmes for BBC Radio 3 including The Four Handed Traveller and were the subject of a programme on Classic FM, during which they talked about their work and played a wide range of music from Schubert to 1920's dance music.

"A marvellous round the world trip...a great unanimity of style"
Chris de Souza, BBC Radio 3 presenter

They have established themselves as one of Britain's leading specialists of the duet partnership, giving concerts throughout Britain and overseas at venues as varied as the South Bank, small privately owned stately homes and the Casals Hall in Tokyo. Whilst the standard repertoire for four hands appears throughout their concert programmes, Cook & Stanley also pride themselves on bringing to their audiences little known 18th and 19th century pieces which they intersperse with music from the jazz and contemporary fields. Their enthusiasm is matched by their refreshing, entertaining and unique approach to their work which includes introducing the background to the music and illustrating aspects of the duet medium.

In 1995, the Cook & Stanley Piano Duet were selected by the British Piano Duo Association to represent their country in the 3rd International Piano Duo Competition in Tokyo, where, in January 1996, they went on to win the First Prize, as well as the Kodama Prize and the Ongaku No Tomo Sponsor's Prize - the first British piano duet to have won this prestigious competition.

Hear the Cook & Stanley Piano Duet

Click on the speaker to hear an extract from Philip Lane's Mouvement Perpetuel
Real Audio version 3 format.

Berendina Cook and Matthew Stanley have developed a diverse range of programmes for piano duet which includes the following:

• A Night at the Opera
• The Works of Schubert
• Around the World in 80 Minutes
• Song and Dance: original and transcribed music from the world of ballet and opera
• An English Idyll

and amongst the more unusual composers featured are: Alkan, Berners, Chwat, Dohnanyi, Donizetti, Dussek, Hummel and Schmitt.

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