Internationally acclaimed Duo Gastesi-Bezerra has delighted audiences for over a decade with exciting programs of traditional and contemporary music for piano ensemble. Billed by the American Record Guide, as “a strong combination, playing very well together — often indistinguishable,” pianists Estibaliz Gastesi and Márcio Bezerra are staunch supporters of new music. They have commissioned more than twenty works by renowned composers such as Terry Winter Owens, Justin Rubin, Vladimir Tošic, Rodolfo Coelho de Souza, and Ricardo Tacuchian, as well as the new voices of
Tim Thompson, Seth Boustead, Carme Fernández-Vidal, and Marlene Woodward-Cooper.
Reflecting the duo’s commitment to perform new music “beyond the world premiere,” new works have been subsequently performed in different countries of the Americas and Europe for a wide array of audiences. In recognition of this mission, the duo has been awarded the coveted Encore Grant by the American Composers Forum and the Gene Gutchë Performance Incentive Fund by the Schubert Club.
Performances of the duo have been broadcast on National Public Radio station WXEL (Palm Beach), Rádio Cultura (Brazil), Radio Ona Mallorca (Spain), and Radio Beograd (Serbia). Their CD of postmodern piano duets has received rave reviews from the press and fellow musicians.
They were artists-in-residence at the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s 7th New Music Festival, where they premiered thirteen new works. Additionally, they have performed repeatedly at the Fundação Benedicto Calixto (Santos, Brasil), the International New Music Festival of Las Vegas (NV), the Norton Museum (West Palm Beach, FL), and with the Palm Beach Atlantic Symphony (FL).
Recently, their engagements included appearances at Fundação Maria Luiza e Oscar Americano in São Paulo, Brazil; a concert of Brazilian music sponsored by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Brazilian Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia; and a concert of French impressionistic and American post-modern piano duets at the Les Arts George V concert series in Paris. They have been requested to perform at a memorial concert for composer Terry Winter Owens in New York City. This past summer, they performed at the prestigious Brasiliana Concert Series organized by the Brazilian Academy of Music in Rio de Janeiro.
The 2009–2010 season includes, among other events, tours of Wyoming and Arizona and celebratory concerts for the duo's 10th anniversary as residents of Palm Beach County.
Duo Gastesi-Bezerra is the official piano-duo-in-residence of Palm Beach Atlantic University.
A native of the Basque Country, pianist Estibaliz Gastesi has performed throughout Europe and the United States. Dr. Gastesi is also an active ethnomusicologist, having published articles and reviews in respected journals in the field. Her latest research was published by the University of Nevada Press.
Brazilian pianist Márcio Bezerra has been performing often at several music halls of Brazil and the United States. He has participated in several editions of the Festival Música Nova de Santos to rave reviews. A distinguished Fulbright and CDMC scholar, his doctoral dissertation was published by the prestigious Alain Van Kerckhoven Éditeur (Belgium).
