Duo Blanc & Noir piano duo meets its audience on world stages with its extraordinary repertoire ranging from classical music to jazz, Turkish traditional music to world music...
Pianists Selin Şekeranber and Yudum Çetiner, who make up Duo Blanc & Noir, received their education at Bilkent University Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow, Lausanne State Conservatory and Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (Munich), where they studied solo piano and music pedagogy as piano majors. After completing their chamber music studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart with the world-renowned piano duo Prof. Hans-Peter and Prof. Volker. Prof. Hans-Peter and Prof. Volker Stenzl, the world-renowned piano duo at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart, and became the first Turkish pianists to complete the “Chamber Music for Two Pianos Department”, a lasting achievement in the history of Turkish classical music.
As the only pianists from Turkey to participate in the “Ibla Grand Prize World Music” competition held in Italy, the duo was awarded the “Special Jury Prize” and gave concerts in Turkey, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Estonia, Austria, Egypt, Egypt, Italy, France and America with their albums “The Essence of Piano Duo”, “HANDS” and “OUTSIDE” and “IMAGINE” released in Germany in the following years. They have been invited to international festivals such as Piano City Milano, Piano City Napoli, Donau Oberschwaben Music Festival, Fete de la Musique Lausanne, Antalya International Piano Festival, FIMU Belfort, Made in Stuttgart, Marsyas Culture - Art and Music Festival and Carl Orff Days.
Released in 2022, their album “It's Electric” is the only album in the world recorded by a piano duo with Fender Rhodes pianos for the first time.
“It's Electric” album of the duo, which has always carried out innovative and extraordinary projects, was nominated for ‘Best Ensemble of the Year’, ‘Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year’, ‘Classical Music Without Borders’ and ‘Best Classical Music Video of the Year’ at the Opus Classical Awards in Germany. The video clip shot by director Ecem Lawton for J.S.Bach's “Toccata”, arranged by Tobias Forster for the Fender Rhodes piano for this album, made a great impact in the classical music world. The video clip won “Best Classical Music Video” and “Best Music” awards at international festivals and competitions such as Munich Music Video Awards, International Sound of Music Awards, Onyko Film Awards, Dubai Independent Film Festival, Euro Music Video Awards, Rome Music Video Awards and LNDN Music Video Awards.
The pianists also perform on stage with their classical music repertoire and have performed with the Ankara Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Antalya Symphony Orchestra, İzmir Symphony Orchestra, Eskişehir Anadolu University Symphony Orchestra, İzmir Chamber Orchestra, Ahmet Adnan Saygun Symphony Orchestra and Eskişehir Symphony Orchestra in the past seasons.
Şekeranber and Çetiner are frequently invited to international music projects due to their extraordinary repertoire. Within the scope of the “Carl Orff Days” organized annually by the Bayern Philharmonic Association, they have given concerts at important stages in Germany such as Stuttgart Liederhalle, Munich Philharmonic, Isarphilharmonie, Bamberg Konzerthalle, Füssen Festspielhaus, Schloss Dillingen and Berlin Konzerthaus.
In addition to their concerts, the duo, whose mission is to introduce children and young people to classical music, has been invited to Greenspring International Music Academy, Virginia Commenwealth University and James Madison University during their US tours in recent years, where they have organized concerts and master classes.
In addition to their interpretations, the duo has also contributed to the classical music world with their compositions and arrangements of Turkish works, and their arrangements of Fazıl Say's “Kara Toprak”, “Alla Turca Jazz” and “Kumru” for one piano four hands and two pianos four hands were published by Schott Music, Germany's most prestigious music publishing house.
After their albums consisting of works they interpreted and adapted from classical and contemporary music repertoire, the duo's album “IMAGINE”, consisting of their own compositions, was presented to readers through Fa Publications as an educational book as well as a lullaby album aiming to direct children to quality and polyphonic music.
“IMAGINE” book aims to reach all children with the stories and compositions written by the duo for each month and special visuals prepared for these works. The “IMAGINE” book is the first music book in Turkey to bring together three different art disciplines. “IMAGINE Live”, which is a continuation of this project, is a series of narrated and educational concerts that introduce children aged 0-7 to classical music and piano. This ongoing project by Selin Şekeranber and Yudum Çetiner meets children in schools and large concert halls.
Finally, with their sixth album “Simply Classic” released with PasionTurca label, they have brought together well-known melodies that we hear in many areas of our lives in the classical music repertoire. The duo set out with the motto “Less is more” and their album “Simlpy Classic”, in which they interpret the most popular and simplest works of world-famous classical music composers, meets with the audience.