Last week, I sat down with pianists Keisuke Nakagoshi and Eva-Maria Zimmermann, who together make ZOFO, a piano-duet team based in San Francisco. Over tea and pizza, we discussed the ensemble’s dynamics and upcoming events. As Keisuke wiped his hands on Eva-Maria’s napkin and the two completed sentences begun by the other, we uncovered the intimate synchronicity characteristic of the piano duet.
Elizabeth: How did you two meet?
Eva-Maria: We used to live only a block away from each other in the Richmond. Keisuke was living in a house full of musicians and my husband, who’s also a musician, and I, came over for a chamber music party. But we didn’t start playing together until after Keisuke injured his hand!
Keisuke: Yes, I hurt my hand and Eva-Maria filled in for me in a gig. I went to hear her. I was like WOW! We’ve got to play together. And so we learned the four-hand arrangement of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
Elizabeth: Why do you perform four-hands one-piano repertoire exclusively, (as opposed to two-piano works?)
Keisuke: Well, practicality is a part of it. It’s hard to find a place with two pianos to practice! But mostly, it’s that the choreography is more interesting. Visuality is important. When we play together on one piano, it’s acrobatic. It’s also intimate. Sharing one instrument is really the most intimate form of chamber music.
Eva-Maria: It’s true. In other chamber music, the pianist is always separate. There’s this huge instrument between you and the other players. Even with a singer. But on one piano, there’s this immediate, spontaneous inspiration coming from the person sitting right next to you!
Keisuke: Sometimes I’m not even sure what I’m playing and what Eva-Maria is playing.
Eva-Maria: It’s almost as though we’re both conductors and we’re producing an orchestral sound.
Keisuke: Yes, that’s what I was trying to say!
Elizabeth: Would you say that you have different strengths or styles as pianists? How do they come together when you play as an ensemble?
Eva-Maria: Lots of people say that four-hand music should sound like one person. But we don’t try to sound the same. In my own playing, I don’t try to make my hands sound the same. I bring out different characters and voices between my hands. As an ensemble, we also try to bring out our own personalities.
Keisuke: Luckily, our musical tastes are similar. For instance, we both like twentieth-century music. We haven’t found a piece yet that only one of us wants to play.
Elizabeth: Much of the four-hand repertoire is transcriptions. What place do transcriptions have in your rep? Do you do any of your own arranging?
Eva-Maria: Keisuke has a bachelor’s degree in composition, so one of these days he’ll undoubtedly do some arranging for us! In the meantime, playing four-hand transcriptions often helps us get back to the birth of the piece. A lot of orchestral works were first conceived of as duets. For instance, Stravinsky first heard the Rite of Spring when he played the four-hand version with Debussy.
Keisuke: The piece is so different on the piano. Because of the rhythmic drive and clarity of the piano, people hear things in it that they had never heard before. It’s interesting to get to the core of the work.
Eva-Maria: We’re also interested in commissioning new repertoire. Unlike the solo piano repertoire, the existing duet repertoire isn’t endless. Right now, we’re in the early stages of commissioning our first piece. We’re both very excited about it.
Elizabeth: Tell me what you’re playing on your March programs.
Keisuke: Well, we have the program figured out, but we haven’t figured out how to label it yet. All of the composers are from the United States, and all of the works are some kind of dance. The program includes Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, a work by Allen Shawn called 3 Dance Portraits, Barber Sovenirs, a work by David Garner, and Gazebo Dances by Corigliano. We’re playing it several times; the big concert in the city is on March 28 on the Old First Church Concerts.
You can read more about ZOFO here. For tickets to their March concert at Old First Church, click here.
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