PianoDuoKutrowatz

Eduard and Johannes Kutrowatz have been playing together as a piano duo since 1984. The two brothers from Burgenland have devoted themselves to the original repertoire for two pianos and piano four hands and are among the most sought-after duos in this field. In 2024 they celebrated their fortieth anniversary.

Concert tours have taken the two brothers to four continents, with appearances at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Vienna Musikverein and the Vienna Konzerthaus. Since 2009 both have been artistic directors of the International Liszt Festival Raiding.

Press international

„The delicacy of their interpretation cannot be praised highly enough“

„brilliant piano playing by an extraordinary pair of brothers“

„between meditation and ecstasy“

„a stream of fire from two pianos“

„pure musicality, temperament and intelligence included“

 „…playing together, they seem to virtually merge with each other…“

„a piano duo of superlatives!“

• Concert tours as piano duo, chamber music partners, soloists, song accompanists and conductors throughout Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, Africa, Asia (Japan, Korea), Russia.
• Much praised CD – recordings with works by J. S. Bach, F. Schubert, J. Brahms, F. Liszt, J. Strauss, J. Takács, A. Piazzolla, L. Bernstein, G. Gershwin, R. Sakamoto, A. Pärt, D. Brubeck
• Teachers of piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
• Artistic directors of high-profile international festivals: Liszt Festival Raiding / Austria www.lisztfestival.at
• Klangsommer Yamanakako / Japan

Curriculum – long version

Their training began at the Joseph Haydn Conservatory in Eisenstadt with Uwe Wolff and continued at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. There Johannes Kutrowatz also studied clarinet with Peter Schmidl and conducting with Karl Österreicher, while Eduard Kutrowatz studied percussion with Richard Hochrainer and Walter Veigl. The impulse to explore the piano duo repertoire came from their shared teacher Renate Kramer-Preisenhammer. Further decisive input came from Karl Ulrich Schnabel in Freiburg and from Franz Rupp at the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival. Both have taught at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna for many years.

In 1986 they won first prize in the piano duo category in Stresa, Italy. Further distinctions followed: the Cultural Promotion Prize of the Province of Burgenland, the Music Prize of the Theodor Kery Foundation, the Grand Decoration of Honour and the Commander’s Cross of the Province of Burgenland, the EUROPAN in 2017 and 2019, the Franz Liszt Honorary Prize of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar and, in 2025, the Bayreuth Medal in Silver. Johannes Kutrowatz was also a prizewinner at the International Schubert Competition in Graz in 1992 and received a Bösendorfer scholarship.

Both are not only pianists but also chamber musicians, song accompanists and conductors. That range shapes their playing. The colour and depth of their sound grow out of the constant dialogue between two musicians who have known each other since childhood.

Concert tours have taken them across Europe and to Japan, Korea, Canada, the USA, Africa, Australia and Russia. They have performed at the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, in the Haydnsaal in Eisenstadt, at Wigmore Hall and the South Bank Centre in London, in the Herkulessaal in Munich, at Suntory Hall in Tokyo and at Carnegie Hall and the 92nd Street Y in New York. Festival invitations have included the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, the Klavierfestival Ruhr, Lockenhaus, the Kuhmo Festival in Finland and the Kowmung Festival in Australia.

Their repertoire ranges from Bach, Schubert, Brahms, Liszt and Johann Strauss through Jenő Takács to Gershwin, Bernstein, Piazzolla, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Arvo Pärt and Dave Brubeck, complemented by their own arrangements and by compositions of Eduard Kutrowatz. Radio and television recordings and numerous CD productions document this work.

As chamber music and song partners they work with Elisabeth Kulman, Angelika Kirchschlager, Juliane Banse, Ildikó Raimondi and Herbert Lippert, among others.

From 2001 to 2015 Eduard and Johannes Kutrowatz directed the klangfrühling festival at Schlaining Castle, which they had founded. Since 2007 Johannes Kutrowatz has been artistic director of the Yamanakako Sound Summer in Japan. Since 2009 both have been artistic directors of the International Liszt Festival Raiding. In 2025 they curated the new permanent exhibition at the Liszt Centre Raiding, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary in 2026.

Programme samples

AMERICA

George GERSHWIN
Variations on „I Got Rhythm
(original version by the composer for 2 pianos)

Philip GLASS 
Four Movements for Two Pianos (2008)

Dave BRUBECK/Eduard KUTROWATZ
Selection for 2 pianos
Fast Life
Three To Get Ready
Castilian Blues
In Your Own Sweet Way
Take Five (Paul Desmond)
Summer Song
The Duke
Blue Rondo A La Turk

GERSHWIN/ PIAZZOLLA

Astor PIAZZOLLA
Tango Nuevo Selection
(Arrangement for 2 pianos by Kyoko Yamamoto)
– Winter in Buenos Aires
– Escualo
– Adios Nonino
-Spring in Buenos Aires

George GERSHWIN
Variations on „I GOT RHYTHM“
(original version by the composer for 2 pianos)

Astor PIAZZOLLA Tango Nuevo Selection
(Arrangement for 2 pianos by Kyoko Yamamoto)
– Michelangelo `70
– Tanti Anni Prima (Ave Maria)
– Decarissimo
– Milonga del Angel
– Libertango

George GERSHWIN
RHAPSODY IN BLUE
(original version by the composer for 2 pianos)

SCHUBERT – BRAHMS

Franz SCHUBERT
6 Atzenbrugger Dances, D 145
(arrangement for piano 4 hands by Eduard Kutrowatz)

Divertissement à la hongroise, g-moll, D 818
Andante
Marcia: Andante con moto
Allegretto

16 Ländler, D 366
(arrangement for piano 4 hands by Johannes Brahms)

Johannes BRAHMS
Hungarian dances
Nr. 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 6

BRAHMS – STRAUSS

Johann STRAUSS
Rejoice in life
Walzer op. 340

Johannes BRAHMS
Hungarian dances
Nr. 4, 9, 16, 17, 5
(Original version by the composer for piano 4 hands)

Johann STRAUSS
Morning Leaves
Waltz op. 279

Johann STRAUSS
From the mountains
Waltz op. 292

Johannes BRAHMS
Hungarian Dances
Nr. 2, 7, 8, 11, 19, 6
(Original version by the composer for piano 4 hands)

TRY TO REMEMBER – JAZZPROGRAM

Astor PIAZZOLLA
Tango Nuevo
Winter in Buenos Aires
Escualo
Adios Nonino
Spring in Buenos Aires
(Arrangements for 2 pianos by Kyoko Yamamoto)

Eduard KUTROWATZ
Jazz paraphrases for 2 pianos
Fly Me To The Moon
The Shadow Of Your Smile
Try To Remember
Sweet Georgia Brown

Dave BRUBECK/Eduard KUTROWATZ
Selection for 2 pianos
Fast Life
Three To Get Ready
Castilian Blues
In Your Own Sweet Way
Take Five (Paul Desmond)
Summer Song
The Duke
Blue Rondo A La Turk

Related Links

• Artists‘ Homepage
• Videos