Belmont High School alums and duo pianists Anthony and Joseph Paratore never had to answer the question, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” because everyone around them knew the answer.
It was always music.
Growing up in a musical household, music was a way of life for the Paratore family. Their father, a violinist and double bass player, insisted on piano lessons for all his children, viewing it as a fundamental part of a good education.
“Piano was probably a prerequisite,” Anthony Paratore said, reflecting on their upbringing. “We have three sisters, so all five of us just had to take piano lessons.“
The brothers’ shared passion led them through rigorous training at prestigious institutions like Boston University, Berklee College of Music, and the Juilliard School. Their performances further lead them across the globe to six continents, sharing their music with audiences that transcend the barrier of language.
“Music and the arts always promote a lot of positivity because there’s a lot of negativity in the world,” Joseph Paratore said. “People would come to us backstage and sometimes say things like, oh, I felt things that I haven’t felt for a long time. It’s emotional; music is an international language.”
With a career spanning four decades, they have achieved major milestones, such as performing at the White House under the administration of President Jimmy Carter, playing at the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, as well as winning the first prize in the 1974 Munich International Music Competition, which had them “walking on cloud nine.”
“It was fun to achieve goals that we set for ourselves and being in two, we kept ourselves inspired,” Anthony Paratore said, “We’re both in tune with our musical goals and that keeps us on our track because we had a certain chemistry and it worked.”
You don’t always get to make a career out of working with your siblings but for the Paratore brothers, “when it came to making music together,it seemed to work.” It was also more exciting traveling as a duo because now they can reminisce on their stories together.
“We were very fortunate that we had this together,” Joseph Paratore said. “And now when we reminisce, it’s good that there’s two of us because we reminisce about a lot of stories that we could forget but if one of us kind of did, the other keeps the memory going.”
As they gear up for their upcoming concert on Nov. 3, they are happy to be returning to their roots, where it all began.
“It’s nice to be back home,” Anthony Paratore said with a laugh. “You see a lot of familiar faces in the audience—family, friends. It’s almost distracting.”
Their program will feature a diverse selection, including a piece by Dave Brubeck, who personally gave them the composition, alongside George Gershwin’s American classic, Rhapsody in Blue. They will be playing repertoire for both one piano and two pianos.
The concert is on Sunday, November 3rd at 4:30 pm at The Dante Alighieri Society, 41 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, MA. Tickets can be purchased online at Dantemass.org in the events calendar or by emailing the concert promoter, Maryanne Uccello, directly at mau12@comcast.net.
