Gemini Duo has just won First Great Award at the Vienna International Music Competition
The accordion duo Gemini Duo, consisting of the twins Wanchen Zhao and Wanxu Zhao, are master students at RDAM under Professor Geir Draugsvoll and have just won 1st prize at the Vienna International Music Competition.
As a result of this 1st prize, they have been invited to perform at the legendary Musikverein in Vienna in April 2024. Furthermore, over the past year, Gemini Duo has been 1st prize winners at the Manhattan Music Competition and Rising Stars Grand Prix in Berlin, giving them the opportunity to play concerts in all three 'big' concert venues Carnegie Hall in New York, Berliner Philharmonien in Berlin and Musikverein in Vienna.
All three competitions were in the category for chamber music with no age limit and no instrumental restrictions. It is rare for accordionists to find their way through such a needle's eye, and Gemini Duo has therefore presented new perspectives on classical chamber music to both the jury and the audience.
According to the jury, Gemini Duo adds a whole new dimension to the chamber music genre, emphasising the fact that they convey large orchestral transcriptions as well as complex new music - without sheet music and with a communication between them that is almost only possible for twins.
Gemini Duo also has other genres in their repertoire, and will be heard under the auspices of RDAM at Tivoli's concert series 'Con Amore' on 8 June, where they will perform Astor Piazzolla's double concerto 'Hommage a Liege' in an arrangement for two accordions and strings together with fellow string students.
