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Music Monday | Jazz, Ravel and a Little Boogie Woogie | August 3, 2026
- 4 days ago
- 1 min read
Jazz, Ravel and a Little Boogie Woogie
The Dranoff connection to today’s Music Monday runs unusually deep. Canadian husband and wife duo Marcel and Elizabeth Bergmann were laureates of the 4th Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition right here in Miami. Years later, Marcel returned not as a competitor but as a commissioned composer, writing Urban Pulse as the required work for the 10th Dranoff Competition in 2005. And in between, the two served as Artistic Directors of the Dranoff Competition and Foundation. Safe to say, they are family.
Urban Pulse is a jazz-infused romp for two pianos that one reviewer memorably described as combining “strands of boogie woogie, Ravel’s Gallic blues, and Dave Brubeck’s Bach-inspired counterpoint.” Elizabeth Bergmann called it “a very fun, jazz-inspired piece” and audiences who have heard it tend to agree enthusiastically. Here are Marcel and Elizabeth performing it themselves.
