Duo Paratore (duo-pianists Anthony and Joseph Paratore) were a big hit at the Malta International Music Festival:
“We are talking about Brothers Anthony and Joseph whose incredible spiritual qualities are reflected in their playing. The brothers play four hands (really twenty fingers for two). Scheherazade never dreamed of such a night: Anthony on the right, Joseph on the left sentencing the public to pure joy. In obedience to the cunning genius of Rimsky-Korsakov, they add many tasty details, juicy and refined. The piano willingly imitated the oriental instruments: it floated in weightlessness, charmed with the contrast of different planes of texture and absolute harmony. No less effective than the original, for the Paratore brothers are a two-man orchestra. Forget the black and white of the keys: in their playing the world is colored with all the colors of the spectrum, synchronized to within a nanosecond, dazzling and magical, delicate and transparent. No wonder you want to listen to them 1001 nights long. Verdiana by the Maltese composer Alexei Shor turned out to be a fantasy on operatic themes: very witty, very theatrical. Familiar melodies, one marvels at their intricate transformations. The Paratore brothers clearly showed the strong vocal intonations in Shor's music, an encore, they presented the ‘Dance of Fire’ by Manuel de Falla and Saint-Saens’ ‘Carnival of the Animals’ finale, played at a whirling tempo, with extreme acrobatic crossings of hands. It is impossible to convey the full degree of their charm - for this you need to be in the energy field of the Paratores. Living in their dimension for about two hours, the audience left the hall absolutely happy.”

(Culbyt (Israel), May 11 2019)

Incredibly virtuoso After many years this was a joyful reunion with the duo-piano brothers Anthony and Joseph Paratore. They gave a much celebrated return performance in the Kaiser Hall of the Brauweiler Abbey.

Since their New York debut and winning first prize in the ARD competition, they have been considered one of the finest two-man orchestras in the world, fascinating audiences with their pianistic skills and, above all, a seemingly magical synchronicity.

Their program was opulent and diverse. With Schubert’s Divertissement a I'hongroise, a work full of spirit, they carried listeners away to the romantic world of old Austria- Hungary. Fauré’s Dolly Suite works a Spanish dance into these charming, iridescent little pieces, After intermission the two pianists did not let up and presented the four-hand piano version of Sheherezade by Rimsky-Korsakov, full of Russian and Oriental styles, not just narrating the 1001 nights of the fairytale’s lore, but meeting the great demands on the performers.

It was fascinating to witness the strength and tension as the Paratore brothers mastered it. They continued with Verdiana, by Alexey Shor, with the famous melodies of Verdi presented in various South American styles: Samba, Bossa Nova and Tango. After that, the two genial performers played a splendidly, fiery 6th Hungarian Dance by Brahms and as their second encore, the brilliant finale to "Carnival of the Animals," their own arrangement in virtuoso cabaret style. They project an almost adolescent joy of playing together and their superb artistry deservedly earned a standing ovation.

(Hürth Musikseminar, October 8, 2019)

"The most remarkable quality about the Paratore brothers was their matching poetic sensibilities..." (New York Times)

"The Paratores have the virtuosity, the clarity, the precision, the mutual listening sensitivy of the famous two-piano teams of the past; what is special about them is their exploration of the coloristic possibilities of two pianos; of the two-pianos teams this listener has heard, only Luboschutz and Nemenoff, long ago, made the medium sound this beautifull."

(Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe)

"Ensemble playing of the highest order" (London Times)

"The Italian-American piano duo, Anthony and Joseph Paratore, electrified the full house... a rarity for Zurich, they received a standing ovation." (Neue Zurich Zeitung )

"The festival concert of Anthony and Joseph Paratore could be compared to a musical shout of joy. It was a unity of virtuosity and feeling that looked like a miracle." (Berliner Morgenpost)

"The Paratore brothers' performance suggested a magical wizardry and a perfect lightness that is without competition today." (Die Presse, Vienna)

"The Paratores rank as the best two-man orchestra in the world. They come very close to the analytical clarity of a Pierre Boulez."(Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Munich)

"They are chamber musicians, and solo stars all rolled into four hands and one mind." (Milwaukee Sentinel)

"Duo pianists are a rare breed, and even rarer are those as exciting as Anthony and Joseph Paratore... The music of the Paratores shared the rhythm of a single heartbeat, their phrasing shone with musical threads of a single seamless cloth... The pianists found delicacy within the most powerful sonotories." (The Washington Post)

"Today's finest piano duo." (San Francisco Chronicle)

"The Paratores made music with a sense for the perfect sound, superb balance, and the most subtle touch... The Paratores are rhythmical and metrically as mobile as they are technically perfect." (Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Munich)

"The Paratores made a bravura flight through Rachmaninoff's Suite No. 2 for two Pianos, whipping up textures of orchestral richness and exchanging the most fragile phrases across pianos as elegantly as a single gifted player might pass an idea between hands." (Milwaukee Sentinel)

"...a unity of virtuosity and feeling that looked like a miracle." (Berliner Morgenpost)

"Horowitz Times Two"
"It was as if Vladimir Horowitz and Arkadi Volodos sat at the piano together, but the two pianists in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall were called Anthony and Joseph Paratore....truly a magnificently impressive evening." (General Anzeigen, Bonn, Germany)

"The Paratore brothers are not simply accomplished pianists. They are artists who play together as a single unit. They bring new and important insights into the literature, and we all benefit from that. I await their return." (Palm Beach Daily News)

"Fourhanded Orchestra: Anthony and Joseph Paratore honor Liszt on 2 concert grands; Sonata in b minor was even more impressive than in the original composition. It was a revelation." (Suddeutsche Zeitung)

"There was something magical about the duo’s performance. Their parts are precisely coordinated and synchronized despite uneven rhythms and demanding technicality. This further entertained the audience as they played these technically demanding pieces with extreme acrobatic arm crossings without missing a note. They seem to fully enjoy entertaining the audience." (Sacramento)

Review of the Paratore Duo The first concert of the Schubert Festival was held in Roskilde's Viking Ship Museum. At the opening concert last night with the piano duo, Paratore Duo, the Schubert Festival got off to a tremendous start. Schubert, who can be seen as starting this genre, had written several pieces for piano duo. We had two of the most important ones to listen to: the Allegro in a-minor with the name, "Lebenssturme," which opened the concert, and the powerful Fantasy in f minor which was played immediately after the intermission. This piece was created during the last phase of the composer's life and was a kind of musical testament. At that time, Schubert finally succeeded in solving the problems of shape and form with which he fought all his short life and which ended with several unfinished works. In this subtle mixture, different types of moods and movements alternate: lied, funeral march, scherzo, and fugue, together with sorrow and resignation. This constant change in character places a great demand upon the performers where every touch and accent must be executed the right way. The way the 2 brothers mastered these challenges was both touching and impressive. In complete agreement, they interpreted the musical nuances in, until now - an unheard degree with perfectly adapted dynamics that must make any talk about technical finesse seem banal. Because of the well prepared Schubert piece at the concert's opening, one looked forward witl1 great expectation to Ludwig's arrangement of Strauss' Don Juan. Can it really be possible to produce this colorful music in black and white without essential things being lost? Here, where instrumentation is central, it was actually possible because - - - just as you can experience greater depth in a black and white than in a color picture, - - - one can musically, through the use of dynamic nuances and contrasts, suggest all the different instruments. The arrangement was fantastic and the performance not less so. The program should have ended with the first 6 of Brahms' Hungarian Dances, - - - again, originally 4-hand music - - - but the public wouldn't let the fantastic pianists go. They were urged into playing more, so we got the exciting edition of Rossini's William Tell Overture and a happy top-of-their-form 'Swing' number by Dave Brubeck, and a last encore of the sparkling final movement of Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals. To a great degree the two sovereign musicians fascinated their public with their outstandingly balanced playing together while at the same time taking care of both a festive and solid musical opening of the Scbubertiade Roskilde. Knud-Eri.k Kengen Dagbladet Roskilde, Denmark