Duo John-Edward Kelly / Bob Versteegh

John-Edward Kelly and Bob Versteegh have worked together continuously as a duo since 1983. A 21-year ongoing co-operation is by itself extraordinary for an instrumental duo, but even more unusual is their approach to their combination of instruments. Beginning with a rather limited number of high-quality works for saxophone and piano written between 1930 and 1970, they have spent years both expanding the repertoire and developing special playing-techniques to bind these seemingly-contradictory instruments into a multifaceted and mutually-complimentary whole. The concept of the piano as an "accompanying instrument" was rejected from the outset, and accordingly one of the most distinguishing qualities of their performances is the totality of their musical interaction. The classical image of a solo-instrument and piano accompaniment is completely foreign to their work, and each of the dozens of works written for them strives to present a particular musical aspect of this unique duo. Many of the pieces premiered by John-Edward Kelly and Bob Versteegh have already become essential works of the saxophone/piano repertoire, with those by Anders Eliasson, Miklós Maros, Hans Kox, Maurice Karkoff, Brian Elias, Michael Denhoff, Dimitri Terzakis and Uroš Rojko having established themselves as milestones in the development of the genre.

In an age in which the instrumental recital has somewhat fallen out of favor, John-Edward Kelly and Bob Versteegh have helped to show how vital and contemporary the duo can be. For many years they have been a regular presence at music festivals throughout Europe, and their "demonstration-recitals" of contemporary music, as well as their many radio and CD recordings, have long been praised as an unforgettable insider-tip. The fact that they have been invited to perform at many music-festivals time and again speaks for itself.

Born in Arnhem, Holland, Bob Versteegh is an extraordinarily versatile pianist with vast chamber-music experience. He is currently professor of piano at the Academy of Music in Detmold, Germany.

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Last revision: 20 March, 2000

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