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Sarasota Resident Teicher, Half Of Movie-Theme Duo, Dies At 83

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The Associated Press

Published: August 5, 2008

SARASOTA - Lou Teicher, a famed piano partner with Art Ferrante in a duo that produced and performed enormously popular theatrical recordings of big Hollywood movie themes, has died. He was 83.

Teicher's manager, Scott W. Smith, said the pianist died Sunday of heart failure at his summer home in North Carolina. He made his permanent home in Sarasota.

Ferrante and Teicher were first dubbed "The Movie Theme Team" in 1961, acclaimed for their rapid fire twin-piano and orchestral performances. Together they performed theatrical recordings of themes from such movies as "The Apartment," "Exodus" and "Tonight" from "West Side Story."

During their four decades performing together, Teicher and Ferrante recorded for Columbia Records, ABC Records and United Artists Records before creating their own label in 1983, Avant-Garde Records. The team recorded more than 150 albums and dozens of singles, selling more than 88 million records worldwide and earning 22 gold and platinum records.

"No one was more blessed than I to have Lou Teicher as my best friend since we met at The Julliard School of Music at the ages of 9 and 6," Ferrante said in a statement from his Florida home.

"We turned our friendship into a professional two-piano team in the mid-'40s. Although we were two individuals, at the twin-pianos our brains worked as one. Lou was certainly one of the world's most gifted pianists. I will miss him dearly and, as pianists, it's ironic how we both ended up living on keys."

The annual Ferrante & Teicher Tour would cover more than 160 cities within the United States and Canada, culminating in 1989 after more than 5,200 concerts. The duo made more than 200 television appearances, and were guests of Ed Sullivan, Dick Clark and Johnny Carson, among others.

Ferrante and Teicher were also White House guests of Presidents Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan.

Teicher was born Aug. 24, 1924 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He is survived by his wife, Betty, his children Richard, Susan and David Teicher, and his grandchildren.

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