New Single! re:Write is out now!

We commissioned re:Write from Andrew M. Rodriguez and we loved it so much that we decided to record it and release it as a single right away!

re:Write has a chill electronic pop vibe. You can hear the Postal Service influences on the track. 

"To fully comprehend why re:Write is what it is, one must first understand who A/B Duo are, because without A/B Duo there would be no re:Write. When I first heard recordings of this flute and percussion duo, I didn’t think of it is “chamber music”. I heard them as an indie band, a rock band, a punk band--a couple of musicians doing things their own way, outside of the norm. This perception helped to shape my approach of writing (and rewriting) this piece."      - Andrew M. Rodriguez

Many thanks to Andrew for writing the piece, mixing the track, and being an all-around pro!

re:Write can also be found on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, CD Baby, Spotify, and Pandora!

Instead of fancy recording studios, we tracked the flute. percussion, and vocals ourselves in a rehearsal room at the Eastman School of Music. 

We're back!

It's been a few months since our last blog post. What have we been doing? A lot. Just not as a duo. We scheduled a little break for a few reasons:

1. We scheduled a little break from performing so that Chris could focus on studying for his DMA written exams. And he must have put the break to good use because he passed! One huge step towards Dr. Jones!

2. Recently, Meerenai joined Areon Flutes and Chris joined Clocks in Motion. Even though they are both part-time ensembles there's a lot to do when one joins a group.

We are now back in business and will be performing again starting in May!

Since our last blog post, we played a few shows in the San Francisco Bay Area, including at SF Music Day:

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We have also received some awesome reviews for "Variety Show" in Fanfare Magazine and Bandcamp Daily! If you haven't checked it out yet, we hope you will soon!

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“vibrant and wide-ranging”

— Bandcamp Daily

“There is much delicacy here; the performance is simply beautiful.”

— Fanfare Magazine

Gratitude

We want to take a moment to thank all of the people who backed our Kickstarter project and made it possible for us to produce our upcoming album, Variety Show. We are lucky to be surrounded by well-wishers and supportive people but then when those people actually (many who are struggling artist too) put their hard-earned money behind our projects, we are really moved. Really, we can feel your collective wind on our sails! :)

Thank you to those who gave money to our campaign.

Thank you to our colleagues, teachers, and gate keepers who took a chance on us and gave us advice, an opportunity, or a venue.

Thank you to our friends and family who housed us on tour or donated their time and efforts so that we can pursue our passion.

Thank you to those of you who took time out of your busy day to come out to one of our shows. We loved seeing everyone of you there at every show.

Thank you to the composers who wrote pieces for us, often at below-market rates. 

Dear Mario Godoy, John Hain, Lanier Sammons, Ellen Wall, Gahlord Dewald, Curious Quail, Amy Likar, Alberto Hernandez, Sarah Goldstein Post, Jonathan Thompson, Cory Tiffin, Steven Ralph, Zach Herchen, Wes Flinn, Jared Yackiw, Jay C. Batzner, Manny Hernandez, Ryan Rey, Nathan Brown, Belinda Brouette, Kate Botelho, DL Brown, Kristin Elliott, Ellen and Stewart Satterfield, Matthew Pellegrino, David MacDonald, Kira Dralle, David Drexler, Dan Fendel, Mark Boseman, Robert Rabinowitz, Derek Stults, Kyle Flens, Jason Charney, Caleb Herron, Margaret Whelehan, Kevin Keller, Garrett Mendelow, P. D. Waltman, Edo Frenkel, Daniel Pate, Adam Neal, Dan McManus, Jenna Nishida, Jamie Wind Whitmarsh, Evan Runyon, Wei-Han Wu, Kendra Emery, Eddie Rothmel, Mark Connor, Don and Zandra Hill, Emlyn Johnson, Andrea Venet-Wills, Annie Stevens, Matthew Wallace, Holly Roadfeldt, Doug Machiz, Zack Browning, Brendon Randall-Myers, Rebecca Schmidt, Marisa Garber, Valerie Coleman-Page, Pavel Sullivan, Nicole Chamberlain, Barbara von Schilcher, Dan Thorpe, Lee Hartman, Peter Whitbeck, Gordon Fry, Ben Willis, Ivan Trevino, Lorraine Jones, Linda Reinkemeyer, Jill Quigley, Kristin Robinett, Jim Kuemmerle, U Chang and Kae Sook Shim, Brooks Frederickson, Julie Johansson, Anthony Joseph Lanman, Frances and Paul Stephan, Janice Misurell-Mitchell, Sarah Gartin, Miguel Rodriguez, Elizabeth Satterfield, Cathy Satterfield, Matt Sharrock, Aaron Jay Myers, Christopher Condon, Andrei Strizek, Carolyn Whitbeck, Shana Norton, Dale Trumbore, Thomas Whitbeck, Hannah Addario-Berry, Sara Allison, Sean Connors, Elizabeth Polischuck, Anna Norris, Apple Orange Pair, Jill Heinke Moen, Josh Ingojo, Sandra and John Warren, Bailey and Phil Whitbeck, Drew Baker, Debbie Girolamo, Jessica Rudman, Zach Nowak, Erik Jones, Chris Pine, Doctor Popular, Thomas Caprio, David Farrell, David Abraham, Giacomo Fiore, John H. Beck, Jennifer Bellor, Nikki Morton, Yun Chang, Chuck Furlong, Dani Metzger, Alan Theisen, Brian Stotz, Garrett Shatzer, Tom Dempster, Andrew Rodriguez, Kim Hickey, Aaron Gervais, Bill Cahn, Matt Payne, Isaac Schankler, Arlene & Larry Dunn, Stephen Lias, Claire Conwell, Ian Dicke, Philippa Thompson, Philip Gelb, Emma Logan, Andrea Reinkemeyer, Kristina Finch, Aleks Sternfeld-Dunn, Ned McGowan, Andrea La Rose, Dan Yang, Nicole Philipp, Anne McKennon, Post-Haste Reed Duo, Michelle McQuade Dewhirst, John Rush, Douglas Laustsen, Sue Rupp, Simon Hutchinson, and Ken Ueno,

Thank you for believing in us.

Love,

Meerenai and Chris

PS. If you pre-ordered a CD or download via Kickstarter, your CD/download is in the mail! If you missed your chance, you can pre-order the album now at abduomusic.bandcamp.com.

Avaloch Farm Music Institute

Our very own rehearsal cabin at Avaloch.

We just completed our two-week residency at Avaloch Farm. It's quite an amazing place. It's the only artist colony residency offered to chamber groups in the USA. Composers, writers, and visual artists have several artist colonies or residencies available to them but performing musicians rarely get the opportunity to just practice whatever they want, whenever they want, in their own rehearsal space in a beautiful and peaceful setting. Musicians only need to cover their travel expenses and everything else is taken care of by Avaloch.

There are many groups like us whose members live far away from each other. Any time they spend together is always precious. A typical tour for us includes meeting up 3 days before, rehearsing as much as possible, then drive any number of hours to our first show. Very rarely are we offered the opportunity to get together and take some time to nurture our projects. Avaloch allowed us to take the time to rehearse, brainstorm for the future, relax, and get some administrative work in, all without the pressures of doing this on tour, or having to premiere a piece after only a couple rehearsals.

Chef Will Gamble made us gourmet dishes for every meal, including amazing vegan creations for Meerenai.

Avaloch was conceived as an artist colony for chamber musicians modeled after the MacDowell colony by cellist Deborah Sherr and philanthropist Dr. Fred Tauber. 2014 was the second season of Avaloch Farm so the facilities were brand new and every detail was well-thought out. Every chamber ensemble has their own dedicated rehearsal space (some with excellent grand pianos). Each musician had their own room in two-bedroom suites. The basement of the living area had individual practice rooms, a small gym, and a game room with pool and ping pong tables. Three gourmet meals were prepared for us each day by resident chef Will Gamble in the amazing kitchen with its own herb garden.

We will never forget the bottomless cookie jar and bottomless coffee carafes!

In some ways these past two weeks were the best working vacation we could imagine. We went canoeing on the lake (on the Avaloch property) with pianist Rosabel Choi and played frisbee with the Asylum Quartet.  We also played a few board games together in the main hall after day-long rehearsals and administrative meetings.

Whenever an ensemble wanted to play a short concert or try out a work in progress, we gathered in the main hall before or after dinner to listen to each other. These mini-concerts were also highlight of our stay. The other groups that were there in the first two weeks of June were as varied as you can image: Asylum Quartet (saxophone quartet), Liber Ensemble (a capella early music quartet), and pianist Rosabel Choi. Listening to these other amazing musicians and such a wide variety of musical styles was such a treat. We were honored to be in their presence and thoroughly enjoyed their company. In the evenings we shared wine together or happily kicked their butts in Taboo and Scrabble.

Performing Isla for flute, vibraphone, and live audio processing (2012) by Ian Dicke at Avaloch Farm Music Institute

Of course Meerenai had a tough time being away from her beloved Lucy. Luckily, Avaloch had a couple of “pups” around to provide some much enjoyed dog-therapy.

Jessie

Meerenai and Snoozer

We are so thankful that this place exists. While here, we have learned two new pieces that we will premiere in the Fall. We also worked out all the details on three pieces that we will record this August.

Thank you to Deb, Fred, Will, Diane, and everyone at Avaloch Farm Music Instritute!

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News: New Collaborations and Happenings

#1

We are excited to announce that we have commissioned the following composers to write new works for us to premiere during the 2014-2016 seasons:

• Brooks Frederickson
• Olivia Kieffer
• Brendon Randall-Myers
• Ryan Ross Smith
• Alan Theisen

We will have profiles of these composers up on our website in the coming months. 

With the addition of these five composers' works, we will soon have a total of 15 compositions written for our duo. The composers we commissioned earlier last year are: Drew Baker, Zack Browning, Andrea La Rose, Jenna Lyle, Ned McGowan, Carolyn O’Brien, Matthew Joseph Payne, Ivan Trevino, Francisco Castillo Trigueros and Ken Ueno.

#2

Thanks to a grant we received from the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music's Musical Grant Program, we will be premiering some of these compositions in San Francisco in October 2014. Details TBA!

#3

We are also honored to be awarded a residency at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute in New Hampshire for two weeks in June. We will spend our time there rehearsing the new compositions for performances during the upcoming season.

Other cool projects are in the works. Sign up for our mailing list if you don't want to miss anything!