Interview with another married couple piano duo!

By Scott

This week’s YouTube video is our interview with the Neeman Piano Duo, currently based in Australia. Edward and Stephanie Neeman are both highly skilled and experienced pianists on an international level, and Clare and I have been inspired by their playing and their arrangements since we first watched their videos many years ago. We have played several of their 4-hand arrangements, including an incredibly difficult and colorful Tchaikovsky Waltz of the Flowers and Pas de deux from The Nutcracker Suite, and a lighter and very pretty arrangement of Some Enchanted Evening from the musical South Pacific. It was a really fun interview!

We cover many topics in the interview, including:

• Neemans’ relationship story

• Neeman Piano Duo origins

• How Edward proposed

• Edward’s arrangement of Some Enchanted Evening

• Stephanie performing and finishing doctorate during pregancy

• Graduate studies in Cincinnati while raising a child

• American vs. Australian accents

• Stephanie “No Last Name”

• Edward’s and Stephanie’s roles in the Neeman Piano Duo

• Edward’s affinity for complexity

• Waltz of the Flowers arrangement

• Video/audio editing

• Edward’s early training and competition experience

• Stephanie’s early training and competition experience

• Decision to study in the US

• Importance of competitions

• Surprise questions for Scott about arranging

• Writing original compositions for piano duo

• Teaching their son piano

• More about Edward’s arrangements

• Advice for young people deciding on a music career
  
  See our interview here!

To learn more about Edward and Stephanie, check out their website and YouTube channel!