Paul Dresher Ensemble: Double Duo

“This is not your grandmother’s chamber music.

Sure, there are some similarities. When the Double Duo, the newest chamber music grouping of the Paul Dresher Ensemble, takes the stage... you’ll see a violin, played by virtuoso Karen Bentley Pollick, and a piano, played by Lisa Moore, a longtime contemporary music soloist and founding member of the Bang on a Can All Stars. And you’ll be hearing pieces composed within the parameters of chamber music, with the musicians playing the notes that are on the page.

After that, everything changes, including the instruments. These will include the electric guitar and the quadrachord, played by Dresher, as well as the marimba lumina, with percussionist Joel Davel at the keyboard. The concerts are designed to explore both the range of conventional instruments doing unconventional pieces and the combination of conventional and unconventional instruments…

The program not only highlights the instruments and the musicians’ talents, it also offers a chance to hear both established and upcoming contemporary composers... All in all, these concerts promise to be exciting, surprising, and refreshing — a chance to hear contemporary classical music at its best.”

      -Marianne Lipanovich, San Francisco Classical Voice

A quartet of musicians from the Paul Dresher Ensemble will bring a program of works that combine The Dresher/Davel Invented Instrument Duo with the virtuoso violin and piano duo of Karen Bentley and Lisa Moore. The concert program will include two major works performed by Dresher and Davel - In The Nameless and Glimpsed From Afar - as well as classic duo, trio and quartet works by Paul Dresher, John Adams and Martin Bresnick.

All four artists are able to direct master classes and coach individual musicians, composers and ensembles. Dresher will also lecture about his work in new opera/music theater, with high quality DVD excerpts from these innovative works. When appropriate, The Dresher/Davel Invented Instrument Duo is also available for smaller houses.