In 2001 the pianists Christine Gerwig and Efraín González Ruano (from Germany and México, respectively) met each other at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria. Gerwig and González were both studying for their bachelor’s degrees in piano solo with Professor Alfons Kontarsky, who inspired and encouraged them to start playing together and introduced them to literature for pianoduo.  Under Kontarsky’s mentorship, the couple embarked on a journey toward a greater musical understanding through the performance of pianoduo literature.

In conjunction with their master’s studies for piano solo at the Mozarteum University with Alfons Kontarsky and later with Rolf Plagge (who performs in the “Queen Elizabeth” pianoduo with Wolfgang Manz), Gerwig and González also specialized in pianoduo literature with both professors, as well as with the Yaara Tal & Andreas Grothuysen duo, currently one of the most important pianoduos worldwide.

Having come from very different cultural backgrounds, the pianist couple continues to enrich each other in their understanding and feeling of music. They have developed a taste for many different styles of American and European music - from Viennese classics, French impressionism and American contemporary music to that of Slavic Nationalist, Scandinavian and Ibero-American composers.

With the exception of some contemporary music, the Duo Gerwig-González perform their interpretations completely memorized, an uncommon practice among chamber music ensembles.

The duo has performed in various concert halls and at festivals throughout Europe and North America, in Austria, Germany, Italy, Norway, USA and México. They have been invited to play at the “Mozartwoche Festiva”l in Salzburg, the “Klavier Sommer Festival” at the Beethoven Haus in Bonn, the “Redlands Bowl Summer Festival” in California, and the “En Blanco y Negro” International Festival at the Centro Nacional de las Artes in México City, among others.

The Gerwig & González Duo was the winner of the 9th International “Concours Grieg” pianoduo competition in Oslo, Norway in 2008, and they also won special prize for the best interpretation of Edvard Grieg’s “Norwegian Dances op.35”, awarded by the Oslo Grieg Society & Norwegian Academy of Music.

Both the public and critics agree that the caliber of performance and interpretation of these young artists is refined, full of musicality, temperament and personality, of absolute musical comprehension, and always with an aura of grace and good taste towards the audience.

Some critics have compared Gerwig-González interpretations of Spanish music with those of Arthur Rubenstein and Magda Tagliaferro.