Our Approach
As international performers and musicians who have a wide and varied background, we very much enjoy helping to nurture the next generation of musicians.
Our Story
The Bergmann Piano Duo’s dynamic and energetic performances of uniquely eclectic programmes have inspired audiences internationally. Their recitals and concerts with orchestra have taken them to many parts of the world, including the United States, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, France, Macedonia, Greece, China and Canada. The duo has appeared at international festivals including: Festival of the Sound, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Vancouver Opera Festival, San Francisco International Music Festival, MusicFest Vancouver, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, the Banff Arts Festival, the Royal Bank Calgary International Organ Festival and Competition, Festival Miami, Tage für Neue Musik, Darmstadt, Braunschweiger Kammermusik Podium, and EXPO 2000, Hannover.
The duo has made recordings for the CBC, for several stations of the ARD in Germany and for National Public Radio and has recorded several CDs, which appear on the CordAria, Arktos, Koch International Classics, Naxos, ARS and Brilliant Classics labels. Their most recent recording, American Stories on the ARS label, features exclusively Marcel’s arrangements.
They are both Artistic Directors of White Rock Concerts and Elizabeth is Artistic Director of Concerts at the Langley Community Music School. Marcel held a position as Professor of Music at Mohawk College in Hamilton and both Elizabeth and Marcel have been on faculty at Mount Royal University and University of Calgary as well as being involved in various musical projects at The Banff Centre for the Arts.
The duo studied with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hannover and with Jean-Eudes Vaillancourt at the Université de Montréal. They received first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Caltanissetta, Italy, and were laureates of The 4th Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition. They performed extensively in Germany as members of the young artists’ roster of Yehudi Menuhin-Live Music Now.
Their extensive repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary and includes numerous own arrangements and compositions.
Meet the Duo
Marcel Bergmann
Pianist, instructor (piano, piano ensemble, chamber music, composition, arranging, improvisation, lectures, workshops, theory and ear training)
For the last 25 years, Marcel has enjoyed an active musical career as a performer, composer, improviser and teacher. His broad range of musical interest and experience in both, classical and popular music has led to an output in a variety of styles and genres.
A native of Munich, Germany, Marcel Bergmann studied musicology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover with Arie Vardi. After obtaining a Bachelors degree, Masters degree and Artist Diploma, Marcel received a scholarship from the Université de Montréal where he and his wife pursued specialized studies in duo piano with Jean-Eudes Vaillancourt. Subsequently, he completed post-graduate work in the Solistenklasse in Hannover with Arie Vardi.
Over the past decades, he has been involved as composer and musical director in a variety of theatre, cabaret and multimedia projects, such as Baden Rebelliert (Bruchsal, Germany, 1998, including 30 performances throughout Baden-Württemberg), Online an der Leine, which had its premiere during the EXPO 2000 in Hannover/Germany, and Der Avatar (2001). The Bavarian Television, Arte and other European broadcasting corporations, have broadcast his music for television features.
In 2004, he was a composer-in-residence for Calgary Opera’s Let’s create an Opera programme. In 2005, Marcel’s Urban Pulse for two pianos was premiered as the commissioned work for The 10th Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition (past commissioned composers included Morton Gould, Ned Rorem, William Bolcom and John Corigliano). (Some of) His music appears on the Canadian National Conservatory’s series Making Tracks- An Expedition in Canadian Piano Music.
He has been commissioned by various organizations including the CBC, the Land’s End Chamber Ensemble, the Spiritus Chamber Choir, the Langley Community Music School, the VSO School of Music and the San Francisco International Music Festival. His music has been performed by artists and ensembles such as Mark Fewer, Jasper Wood, Ariel Barnes and The Turning Point Ensemble. Furthermore, Marcel has also created several works and arrangements involving two pianos and other instruments, such as Culemborg City Soundscape (together with Jeroen Van Veen). Frequent collaborations with composers, performers and writers in Europe and North America have led to a multitude of chamber music based projects, ranging from duo to sextet. His large-scale work, Requiem for a Lost Girl (an oratorio on homelessness) was premiered at the 2010 High Performance Rodeo in Calgary and was presented as part of the New York Music Theatre Festival in July 2012 as well as at Vancouver Opera’s 2018 Festival. In 2014, the Bergmann Duo gave the highly successful premiere of Marcel’s Concerto for Two Pianos with the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra and it was also featured in the 2015/16 season of the Okanagan Symphony, including performances in Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon. In November 2019, the Bergmann Duo and Vancouver’s Turning Point Ensemble gave the premiere of a new chamber version of the concerto.
In addition to his international performing career as one half of the Bergmann Piano Duo, Marcel has been active as a chamber musician, clinician, juror, collaborative pianist and vocal coach. In 2004/2005, Marcel and his wife were Artistic Directors of The Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition and Foundation in Miami. He has been on faculty at Mount Royal University, the University of Calgary, and served as Artistic Director, as well as Director of Program Advancement, at the Langley Community Music School. He has also been involved in various musical activities at The Banff Centre for the Arts. From 2009 -2013, he was Professor of Music at Mohawk College in Hamilton/Ontario.
Marcel is currently Artistic Director of White Rock Concerts and Resident Composer at LCMS. He is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.
Elizabeth Bergmann
Pianist, instructor (piano, piano ensemble, chamber music, lectures, workshops, sight reading)
Elizabeth Bergmann has an active performing career as pianist and chamber musician and is the recipient of many awards and prizes of international competitions. She performs most regularly with her husband as the Bergmann Piano Duo and has recorded numerous CDs with various ensembles and artists and has appeared in recitals and concerts with orchestra, which have taken her to many parts of the world. Elizabeth is nationally and internationally involved as a lecturer, presenter and juror of festivals and competitions. Along with her husband, she is Artistic Director of White Rock Concerts and Artistic Director of Concerts at the Langley Community Music School in Langley, BC. She has been on faculty at The Mount Royal University in Calgary, Mohawk College and at the University of Calgary and for many years was involved in various musical activities at the Banff Centre for the Arts. She was a core member of Calgary Land’s End Chamber Ensemble and in the 2004-2005 season, she and her husband served as Artistic Directors of The Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition and Foundation in Miami.
A native of Alberta, Elizabeth received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Alberta and received further diplomas in solo performance and chamber music from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hannover, Germany where she studied with Arie Vardi. She received her Master of Music from the University of Toronto and further specialized diploma in duo piano from the Univérsité de Montréal. Her teachers included Helmut Brauss, Patricia Parr, Jean-Eudes Vaillancourt and Arie Vardi. Elizabeth has participated in masterclasses with Hans Graf, Tatjiana Nikolayeva, Menahem Pressler, Jorg Demus and Hans Leygraf.
What we offer: Learn more
Piano Instruction
Piano Ensemble
Composition/Theory
Improvisation
Arranging
Masterclasses/workshops
Rates, information and other questions
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