Anderson & Roe Piano Duo

Piano

  • Known for their adrenalized performances, original compositions, and notorious music videos, GREG ANDERSON and ELIZABETH JOY ROE are revolutionizing the piano duo experience for the 21st century. Described as “the most dynamic duo of this generation” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “rock stars of the classical music world” (Miami Herald), and “the very model of complete 21st-century musicians” (The Washington Post), the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo aims to make classical music a relevant and powerful force around the world. 2022 marks the 20th anniversary of Anderson & Roe’s debut.

    Anderson & Roe met in 2000 as freshmen at The Juilliard School and formed their dynamic musical partnership shortly thereafter. They have since toured extensively, with notable recitals in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Estonia, Romania, Israel, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and most major US cities, as well as in nearly every New York City venue imaginable, from Carnegie Hall to children’s hospitals. Additionally, they have appeared at the Gilmore and Gina Bachauer International Piano Festivals, the Mostly Mozart and Styriarte Festivals, and at dozens of summer chamber music festivals. Their orchestral engagements include appearances with the orchestras of San Francisco, Vancouver, Rochester, Liverpool, Calgary, and Boulder, among others, and with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

    Anderson & Roe's discography comprises five critically albums which have spent dozens of weeks at the top of the Billboard Classical Charts, and a live performance by the duo was handpicked to appear on the Sounds of Juilliard album celebrating the school’s centennial year. Their Emmy-nominated, self-produced music videos have been viewed by millions on YouTube and at international film festivals. Their scores are published by Alfred Music on the “Anderson & Roe Duos & Duets Series” and by Awkward Fermata Press.

    The duo’s innovative exploits have captured the attention of such media outlets as MTV, PBS, NPR, APM, and the BBC, as well as Gramophone, Clavier Companion, Listen, and Pianist magazines, and the Huffington Post. They are profiled in Nick Romeo’s book, Driven. In 2017 they served as hosts for the 17-day medici.tv webcast of the 15th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and in 2020 they guest-hosted NPR’s From the Top. In recognition of their singular vision for the advancement of classical music, they have been invited to present at numerous international leader symposiums, including EG (Entertainment Gathering), the Imagine Solutions Conference, Chicago Ideas Week, and Mexico’s Ciudad de las Ideas.

    While isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Anderson & Roe performed several innovative and interactive virtual events, produced over a dozen new music videos, appeared in MasterVoices’ Myths and Hymns (2021 Drama League Nominee for Best Digital Concert Production) alongside luminaries of opera and musical theater, and hosted a year of Two Piano Tuesday livestream conversations on Facebook Live which drew an enthusiastic and devoted global audience each week.

    Anderson & Roe believe strongly in the communicative potential of music, and their performances, compositions, websites, videos, recordings, and writings all serve this mission, bringing joy to people around the world. As stated by the Northwest Reverb, “[Anderson & Roe] swept the audience into a cheering mass of humanity, making a strong case that playing piano is the most fun thing that two people could ever do together.”

    Greg Anderson & Elizabeth Joy Roe are Steinway Artists.

  • THROWBACK: ANDERSON AND ROE SHOWED EMOTIONAL RAPPROCHEMENT ON SATURDAY NIGHT | THIRD COASTAL CLASSIFICATION
    The young piano duo from Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe offered their unique classical innovations at Northwestern University's Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall on Saturday night. In this outstanding concert, Anderson and Roe showcased how they have reinvented concert nights with classical music since joining as students at Julliard in 2002. They brought their act to Evanston and wowed a sold-out audience in front of the impressive stage… Anderson and Roe played with wonderful fluidity, seamlessly transitioning the various musical motifs from one piano to the next.
    - Ritome

    ‘BITTERBRUSH’: FILM REVIEW | TELLURIDE 2021
    Bach piano pieces (performed by the duo Anderson & Roe) deepen and amplify scenes of the women at work, the music’s structural rigor and spirituality emphasizing the beauty that surrounds them, and their profound connection to it.
    – Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter

    ‘AN AMADEUS AFFAIR’ OFFERS EXCEPTIONAL PIANISM FROM ANDERSON & ROE PIANO DUO
    “Throughout An Amadeus Affair, Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe bring Mozart’s greatness to a new generation while escalating the role of the classical piano duo to a new level of virtuosity and sophistication.”
    – Paula Edelstein, Examiner.com

    “AN AMADEUS AFFAIR”
    “Everything Busoni has imagined, from the innocence at the beginning through to the incredible climax of his original cadenza and then the scampering around and last kisses in bed, is beautifully realized by Anderson & Roe; it will change the lives of all who hear it, both for the music and the way it is played.”
    – Laurence Vittes, Audiophile Audition

    ANDERSON AND ROE INAUGURATE CLIBURN SESSIONS
    “The duo’s playing was marked by virtuosity and bubbled with youthful energy. Their running commentary, clever and informative, allowed them to create characters … that enlivened the recital format with a touch of whimsy. Anderson was mischievous, Roe strove for a modicum of control…. The evening was a complete success. Excellent music that was markedly different from what we usually hear, a full measure of originality, [and] Cliburn-level pianism.”
    – Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, DFW

    PIANO DUO GIVES MASTERFUL MAR-A-LAGO PERFORMANCE
    “The performance was remarkable in more than one way: Not only did the artists display superb musicianship throughout the program, but also the program itself was full of surprises.”
    – Marcio Bezerra, Palm Beach Daily

    PIANO DUO ANDERSON & ROE STILL MARVELOUS IN RETURN MCC CONCERT
    “The duo, who perform as Anderson & Roe, delivered their usual ear- and eye-filling keyboard wizardry in a gala concert marking McLennan Community College’s 50th anniversary, with two electrifying four-hand encores that closed an already lively evening with a bang.”
    – Carl Hoover, The Waco Tribune

    PIANO DUO’S HIGH-ADRENALINE SHOW
    “The Anderson & Roe Piano Duo are arguably the highest profile piano duo of the current generation.”
    – Mervin Beng, The Straits Times

    ANDERSON & ROE CONJURE BACH AND RADIOHEAD AT THE END OF CIVILIZATION
    “This explains why Anderson & Roe have earned hype beyond classical music circles. This is different. Their hands skitter and slide across the keys, crossing and caressing, then jerking back like a puppetmaster yanked their string. Sometimes they take turns, one manipulating the piano strings beneath the propped lid while the other plucks the keys.”
    – Kera Abraham, Monterey County Weekly

    REVIEW: GREG ANDERSON, ELIZABETH JOY ROE DAZZLE BOULDER PHILHARMONIC CROWD
    “Pianists Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe function like a complex machine, fusing two musical minds into one…. Anderson and Roe are the gold standard among today’s piano duos.”
    – Kelly Dean Hansen, Boulder Daily Camera

    SLICKNESS AS TRANSGRESSION: PIANO DUO PUSHES BOUNDARIES
    “Anderson and Roe, the piano duo who played at the National Gallery on Sunday afternoon, are the very model of complete 21st-century musicians. They fuse classical and pop music into a blend of high artistry and skillful entertainment; they write informative program notes; they talk to the audience from the stage, passing the mic back and forth. That they are crack pianists goes without saying.”
    – Anne Midgette, The Washington Post

    REVIEW: ANDERSON & ROE AND CHRISTIAN LINDBERG WITH THE ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC
    “Anderson and Roe are tremendously charismatic and insanely talented, and the Poulenc concerto was a great piece to demonstrate some of their stylistic range.”
    – Nigel Smith, Good News Liverpool

    ANDERSON & ROE PIANO DUO SIT AND DELIVER AT HERBST
    It was all at once intimate, fiercely intense, profound, and captivating. I found myself becoming emotional, which, thanks to our musical over-saturation, rarely happens to me.

    Anderson & Roe exemplify what contemporary artists should aspire to be. They approach the audience differently than the way many classical musicians do. They are more akin to rock stars…They paid due respect to Brahms and Beethoven (and Bernstein, in an encore rendition of West Side Story’s “America”) while bringing new life and vigor to the concert hall. They are more than welcome to stay.
    – Catriona Barr, San Francisco Classical Review

  • Orchestral Repertoire

    Bach
    Concerto for Two Pianos in C minor, BWV 1060
    Concerto for Two Pianos in C major, BWV 1061
    Concerto for Two Pianos in C minor, BWV 1062

    Bartok
    Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra

    Bernstein/Anderson & Roe
    “Mambo” from West Side Story for Two Pianos and Percussion

    Bizet/Anderson & Roe
    Carmen Fantasy for Two Pianos and Orchestra

    Brahms/Anderson & Roe
    Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102 (*arr. for Two Pianos and Orchestra)

    Britten
    Scottish Ballad for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Op. 26

    Coldplay/Anderson & Roe
    Viva la Vida for Two Pianos and Strings

    Mozart
    Concerto in E-Flat Major for Two Pianos No. 10, K.365

    Poulenc
    Concerto in d minor for Two Pianos

    Saint-Saëns
    Carnival of the Animals

    Saint-Saëns/Anderson & Roe
    Danse Macabre: Bacchanal for Two Pianos and Orchestra

    *Updated August 2022