Duo Damiana at University of Akron
Guitarist Dieter Hennings pairs with Grammy-award winning flutist Molly Barth form the contemporary music outing that is Duo Damiana. Both artists are deeply versed in the performance of new music; Molly (an Oberlin alumna) is a founding member of the much lauded chamber ensemble "eighth blackbird" in addition to several other similar ventures. Dieter has established himself as a vigorous advocate through many composer collaborations over the years (see his
). Their program at Akron was in keeping with this tradition, featuring five works written since 2007 (and one world premiere). The oldest work on the program was Takemitsu's Toward the Sea. Others composers featured were Hebert Vasquez, Marc Satterewhite, Ricardo Zohn Muldoon, Scott Perkins (author of the premiere), Shafer Mahoney and Chen Yi. The program is copied below.
The playing was gorgeously nuanced and brilliantly detailed. Both musicians took marvelous advantage of the resources of their instruments and made this mostly unfamiliar music accessible to the audience. The audience loved them.
In addition to their performance, they each taught master classes. Some photos follow of the guitar class.
Tyler Spuzillo played Milles Regretz by Luis de Narvaez
Jeremy Avalos played the first movement of the Rodrigo's Sonata Giacosa
Daniel Silverman played Bach's Fugue, BWV 1000.
Finally, Philip Logan played Equinox by Takemitsu.
The Duo also played a few days later at Oberlin Conservatory. Thanks, Duo Damiana, for your dedication to new music and your fine playing!!!
