About
Christine Gerwig and Efraín González Ruano met each other at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria. Coming from different cultural backgrounds (Germany and Mexico), the two soloists very quickly realised an extraodinary symbiosis. Under their professor Alfons Kontarsky’s mentorship, the duo embarked on a journey toward a greater musical understanding through the performance of pianoduo literature. In conjunction to their piano solo master’s studies at the Mozarteum University with Alfons Kontarsky, and later on with Rolf Plagge, Gerwig & González also specialized in pianoduo literature. Yaara Tal & Andreas Grothuysen also gave them significantly new ideas for their artistic enrollment. In 2008, the Gerwig & González Duo won the 9th International “Concours Grieg” pianoduo competition in Oslo, Norway, and was awarded the special prize for the best interpretation of Edvard Grieg’s work and their contemporary work .
The duo has performed in numerous concert halls and Festivals throughout Europe and North America such as the Beethovenfest in Bonn, the Philharmonic Hall in Cologne, the “Mozartwoche” in Salzburg, the “Klavier Sommer Festival” at the Beethoven Haus in Bonn, the summerconcert series in Brandenburg, the French Church in Bern, Switzerland, the “Teatro Degollado” in Guadalajara, the Sala Felipe Villanueva in Toluca, the “En Blanco y Negro” International Festival at the National Arts Center in México City, the “Redlands Bowl Summer Festival” in California or the grand hall of the Oslo Musicconservatory among others. Christine Gerwig and Efraín González performed with the important Mexican Symphony Orchestras, as the “Orquesta del Estado de Mexico” and the “Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco”, working with directors such as Ricardo Casero, Jörg Ritter, Dorian Wilson and Mario Mateus. They worked with internationally renowned singers such as Martina Jankova, Annika Boos, Olivia Vermeulen, Daniel Ochoa, the violinist Koh Gabriel Kameda, the pianoduo Jost/ Costa and the Berner Kammerchor. Invitations for next season include the “Concerts de midi” series in Brussels and to the Oregon Music Festival with the Festival orchestra as well as a recording of Martinu Concerto for two pianos and orchestra with the Budapest Radio Symphony Orchestra.
The duo received rave reviews for its idiomatic and nuanced interpretations of Spanish music, and has even been compared to Artur Rubinstein or Magda Tagliaferro. “The rhythmical details and the Spanish musicgrammar …. you can’t possibly play better Manuel de Falla.”
Gerwig & Gonzalez teach master classes, and workshops for children in public schools and universities throughout Mexico and Nepal. They also have offered special concerts for children in Germany (for example the children concert series at the Cologne Philharmonic), the USA and in Nepal.
Christine Gerwig has also been working with singers and regularly performs Lied-recitals. She started a new series of concerts offering rare programs in combination with literature.
Christine Gerwig and Efraín González are married and have two children, Alejandro and Valeria González Gerwig, who play the piano and have been warded several nacional prizes, such as the first and the special prize of the Bechstein pianoduo competition 2016 in Berlin, the 3rd prize for soloists in Essen, and the first prize of the 2015 Steinway competition in Hamburg. They debuted in a first concert tour through Mexico in summer 2016. The German televisión channel WDR has made two documentaries about them and the Mexican TV made a film about their concert tour.