9.1.2010
Emerging Composer Competition
We are pleased to announce the 2011 DuoSolo Emerging Composer Competition. This year, we are seeking new works for fl/piano duo inspired by environmentally-related themes. Please visit the Emrging Composer Competition part of the site for the complete rules, or email duosolo (duosolo_duosolo.com).
8.2.2010
Cortona Sessions
The first Cortona Sessions for New Music ended on June 30 and was a great success! Thank you to everyone who participated! The 2011 Cortona Sessions will take place June 19 - June 29, 2011. Visit the Cortona Sessions website for more details. www.cortonasessions.com
3.2.2010
Winners Announced!
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2010 DuoSolo Emerging Composer Competition are:
Flute
Nicolas Tzortzis: Incompatible(s)III
Piano
Marcílio Onofre: Prélude VII
3.1.2010
New Site
Welcome to our new website. Please excuse the hiccups as we put the finishing touches on!
1.22.2010
We have received an astonishing 65 submissions for the 2010 DuoSolo Emerging Composer Competition. We are currently evaluating all submissions and will submit finalists for judging in the next few weeks.
12.18.2009
Encore Grant
We are thrilled to announce that we were recently awarded an Encore Performance Grant from the American Composers Forum. We will be presenting Dal Dosai by Matt Van Brink in concerts throughout 2010/11. www.mattvanbrink.com
10.1.2009
Cortona Sessions for New Music
Announcing the first Cortona Sessions for New Music to be held June 20 - July 1, 2010 in beautiful Cortona, ITALY. The Cortona Sessions will bring composers and performers together for 10 days of study and collaboration in the presentation of world premieres and nightly new-music concerts. The faculty includes DuoSolo as well as renowned composers Gabriela Lena Frank and Forrest Pierce. Please visit the Cortona Sessions website for more details.www.cortonasessions.com
Dedicated to performing the most innovative music of our time, DuoSolo blends super virtuosity with thoughtful introspection in exciting and interactive concert experiences.
DuoSolo believes the future of classical music lies in our ability to reach out to new audiences through programming music that is at the same time fun, challenging, and cutting edge.
DuoSolo also believes in the power of music to encourage social and cultural awareness. To this end, DuoSolo presents annual benefit concerts for causes including, disaster relief, environmental protetection, and animal rights.
Quick Links
The DuoSolo Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation, performance, promotion, and education of new music. The goals of the DuoSolo Foundation are:
Music for Greensburg is a concert program featuring contemporary repertoire dedicated to themes of life, death, rebirth, hope, and nature. The Music for Greensburg concerts will benefit the ongoing rebuilding of Greensburg, Kansas which was devastated by an EF-5 tornado in May of 2007.
Greensburg continues its reconstruction as a model "green" community, as can be seen on the television show Greensburg airing on Discovery's "Planet Green" channel.
New works written specifically for this program by composers Forrest Pierce and Gabriela Lena Frank will be featured on these concerts.
The DuoSolo Emerging Composer Competition was created in 2008 as a way to encourage young composers under the age of 35 to composer new works for flute and piano. Winners receive a cash prize as well as multiple performances of their submission by DuoSolo.
For more information on the Emerging Composer Competition, including rules and past winners, please click below.
The Cortona Sessions for New Music will begin in June, 2010. This festival offers flutists, pianists, and composers the opportunity to collaborate and study in the beautiful setting of Cortona, ITALY.
Faculty for the Cortona Sessions include DuoSolo and leading composers from around the world. The 2010 Cortona Sessions faculty are:
Mary Fukushima, flute
Michael Kirkendoll, piano
Gabriela Lena Frank, composition
Forrest Pierce, composition
Please visit the Cortona Sessions website for more information.
www.cortonasessions.com
The DuoSolo Foundation is continually developing new projects and is constantly striving to grow and develop the repertoire for flute and piano. Ongoing foundation projects include:
Current projects for which the DuoSolo Foundation is seeking more directed support include:
-click above for more information-
DuoSolo thanks all of the members and friends of the DuoSolo Foundation. If you would like to become a member and be a part of this exciting creative process, please visit the support page of this website.
Membership in the DuoSolo Foundation entitles you to receive the DuoSolo newsletter 2 for 1, updates on DuoSolo concerts and activities, and other benefits which may include:
• private home concerts featuring DuoSolo
• free copies of any commercial recordings
• named recognition on new commissions
Pierrot level ($5,000 and above)
Quartet level ($1,000-$4,999)
Robert Bernstein
Trio level ($500-$999)
Dave Hiebert
Gunda Hiebert
Duo level ($100-$499)
Andrea Apter
L. R. & Sharon Iorio
Vic & Bea Scholfield
Pat Maki
Susan Elkins & Jack Winerock
Soloist level ($1-$99)
Gary Barnett
Anne Guzzo
David & Helen Knudtson
Isabelle Ohlsen
Karen Robbins
Michael Scott
Orchestra level ($10,000 and above)
Chorus level ($5,000-$9,999)
Chamber level ($1,000-$4,999)
Ensemble level ($1-$999)
President
Michael Kirkendoll
Vice President & Secretary/Tresurer
Mary Fukushima
Board
Dr. Dave Hiebert
Mrs. Gunda Hiebert
Dr. Jack Winerock
SUPPORT
Support the DuoSolo Foundation and become a part of the creative process!
Support the DuoSolo Foundation by making a tax-deductible donation. Your contribution will provide assistance to both the artistic and operational expenses of the DuoSolo Foundation. Donations will be supplemented by grant support whenever possible.
Donations can be made online via PayPal (all major credit cardS), or you may mail a check to the address below.
Mail your donation via CHECK too:
DuoSolo Foundation
517 E. Rogers Dr.
Stillwater, OK 74075
please make checks payable to:
Make an online donation using credit/debit card below. Please note, you do not need a PayPal account to donate online.
Donate to the DuoSolo Foundation
About DuoSolo
The formation of DuoSolo was a process that began in 2001. We met in a remedial sight-singing class at the Manhattan School of Music where we were getting our masters degrees. Our musical connection happened quickly and we didn't waste time learning much of the major repertoire together. After starting our doctoral degrees together at the University of Kansas in 2004, our focus began to shift from traditional repertoire to more contemporary works: particularly the music of living composers. In 2006, we gave our Carnegie Hall debut and soon after performed in Singapore and again in NYC. It was at this time that DuoSolo became a reality.
The name DuoSolo signifies our programming philosophy of blending solo and duo works in ways to display a diverse range of contemporary styles and techniques. Our goals include performing works by the most influential composers of the 20th Century (Berio, Boulez, Messiaen, et. al.), as well as works by both established and emerging composers of the 21st Century. Our greatest joy, however, comes from the collaborative experience of commissioning and premiering new works.
Since forming DuoSolo in 2006, Mary Fukushima and Michael Kirkendoll have become exciting new forces on the contemporary music scene. Following their 2006 debut in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York Concert Review called them powerhouse performers, noting Mary's warm and brilliant sound and Michael's thought-provoking and atmospheric playing. They have since appeared on concert series around the world including in New York and Singapore. In 2008, DuoSolo created the DuoSolo Foundation: a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the commissioning, performance, and education of new music. Annually, the DuoSolo Foundation sponsors an Emerging Composer Competition and new-music recitals benefiting causes including disaster relief, environmental protection, and animal rights. Beginning in 2010, the DuoSolo Foundation will present the first Cortona Sessions for New Music in Cortona, Italy. The Cortona Sessions strive to bring young composers and performers together to encourage future collaborations and performances of new music.
Since 2006, DuoSolo has commissioned or premiered over a dozen works by such composers as David Rakowski, Frederic Rzewski, Gabriela Frank, and Forrest Pierce. They recently premiered the winning piece from the first DuoSolo Emerging Composer Competition, for which they received twenty-seven new works for flute and piano from eight countries. DuoSolo is regularly featured as artists-in-residence at universities and festivals around the United States and abroad, including the University of Oklahoma, Indiana State University, Montana State University, Lewis and Clarke College, and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore.
DuoSolo creates programs that include music for solo flute, solo piano, and flute/piano duo, ranging from twentieth-century masterpieces to contemporary explorations of rock, pop, electronic music, and performance art. Their blend of creative programming, virtuosic technical abilities, and intelligent, engaging dialogue from the stage makes them a favorite of audiences wherever they go.
Currently, Mary is Lecturer in Flute at Pittsburg State University(KS) and Michael is serving as Assistant Professor of Piano at Oklahoma State University. They each earned doctoral degrees at the University of Kansas, and received their masters degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.
click to download
bio as .pdf
visit Mary's website for audio/video/bio
When not DuoSolo-ing, Mary is...
• yoga-ing
• marathon training
• golfing | surfing | snowboarding (depending on location)
• hiking and playing with the dogs
• learning Italian
visit Michael's website for audio/video/bio
When not DuoSolo-ing, Michael is...
• a gourmet chef
• wine connoisseur and collector
• hiking with Mary and the dogs
DuoSolo is committed to creating innovative and exciting programs featuring a diverse range of contemporary styles and techniques. Every DuoSolo concert has three primary goals:
While it is our desire to create programs exclusively featuring contemporary repertoire, DuoSolo is always happy to create blended programs for certain concert venues.
Repertoire
For the 2009-2010 concert season, DuoSolo programs will feature repertoire from the lists at the right.
Gabriela Lena Frank | Sueños de Chambi
Beat Furrer | Presto con fuoco
David Lang | Vent
Bruno Mantovani | Appel d'air
Olivier Messiaen | Le merle noir
Nicholas Omiccioli | Invisible Worlds
Forrest Pierce | Bison Circles
Forrest Pierce | The Ruin of the Cypress
Edward Smaldone | Monk/Duke
Luciano Berio | Sequenza I
Ian Clarke | Zoom Tube
Mary Fukushima | Etudes (selected)
Harold Meltzer | Trapset
Astor Piazolla | Tango Etude
Forrest Pierce | House on Fire
David Rakowski | Flutoods (selected)
Claude Debussy | Etudes (selected)
Frank Felice | awakenings (winter)
Charles Ives | The Alcotts
Jerome Kitzke | The Animist Child
Jerome Kitzke | Sunflower Sutra
Györgi Ligeti | Etudes (selected)
Bruno Mantovani | Jazz Connotation
David Rakowski | Etudes (selected)
Frederic Rzewski | Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
Premieres / Commissions
Brian Bondari (b. 1978)
• Kaykhosrow's Ascension, fl/pno (2006)
commissioned by DuoSolo
world premiere: June 4, 2006, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, New York, NY
world premiere: June 21, 2006, soundSCAPE Festival, Cortona, Italy
asian premiere: December 13, 2006, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore
Chin-Chin Chen (b. 1964)
• Waft Through Open Doors, fl/tape (2006)
Gabriela Lena Frank (b. 1972)
• new work TBA, solo pno (2010)
commissioned by Michael Kirkendoll for "Music for Greensburg" concerts
• Sueños de Chambi: Snapshots for an Andean Album, fl/pno (2002)
new york premiere: June 4, 2006, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, New York, NY
european premiere: June 21, 2006, soundSCAPE Festival, Cortona, Italy
Zechariah Goh (b. 1970)
• Images my Dream Saw, fl/pno (2007)
world premiere: April 24, 2007, Lied Center Recital Series, Overland Park, KS
Tony Higgins (b. 1985)
• The Notes on a Piano, Part I, 4 pianists, 1 piano (2006)
Vera Ivanova (b. 1977)
• Aftertouch, solo pno (2006)
Marcilio Onofré (b. 1982)
• Three Miniatures, solo fl (2006)
Forrest Pierce (b. 1972)
• Bison Circles, fl/pno (2010)
commissioned by DuoSolo for "Music for Greensburg" concerts
world premiere: March 7, 2010, Lewis and Clarke College
• The Ruin of the Cypress, alto fl/pno (2006)
world premiere: February 12, 2007, Trinity Church, Concerts at One, New York, NY
David Rakowski (b. 1958)
• Flutood No. 3, "Harm's Way", solo fl (2009)
written for Mary Fukushima
• Flutood No. 1, "Slap Happy", solo fl (2008)
world premiere: October 19, 2009, Ruel Joyce Recital Series, Overland Park, KS
• Flutood No. 2, "Ram Tough", solo fl (2008)
• Etude No. 79, "Narcissitude", solo pno (2007)
written for Michael Kirkendoll
• Etude No. 78, "Upon Reflection", solo pno (2007)
• Etude No. 73, "Heavy Hitter", solo pno (2006)
• Etude No. 52, "Moody's Blues", solo pno (2003)
• Gli Uccelli di Bogliasco, fl/2 pnos (2006)
commissioned by DuoSolo and Nathanael May
world premiere: October 10, 2006, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Frederic Rzewski (b. 1938)
• Nanosonatas, Book 1, solo pno, (2006)
world premiere: May 11, 2007, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Edward Smaldone (b. 1956)
• Monk/Duke, fl/pno (2009)
world premiere: May 9, 2009, Queens College, Queens, NY
Lev 'Ljova' Zhurbin (b. 1978)
• Three Haiku, solo fl (2002)
commissioned by Mary Fukushima
world premiere: Spring, 2002, New York, NY
Calendar
Next Events
Aug 26
Eyes on Me _ OSU
Aug 29
Michael w/Celeste Johnson, oboe
Sep 12
DuoSolo Fundraiser
Indianapolis, IN
Sep 19
DuoSolo _ OSU
Sep 24
DuoSolo _ Univ. of Wyoming
Audio
PLAYLIST
The Ruin of the Cypress | Forrest Pierce
Invisible Worlds | Nicholas Omiccioli
winning piece, 2009 Emerging Composer Competition
Suizen: A Blowing Meditation | Mary Fukushima
Video
email | duosolo_duosolo.com
post | 517 E. Rogers Dr. - Stillwater, OK 74075
Beautiful Noise on Progressive Radio Network
Pittsburg State University
Oklahoma State University
Gregory Oakes
Forrest Pierce
Thomas Rosenkranz
Gabriela Lena Frank
Nathanael May
David Rakowski
Amir Khosrowpour
Harold Meltzer
Conor Nelson
Matt Van Brink
Ken Ueno
Nicholas Omiccioli
Zechariah Goh
American Composer's Forum
American Music Center
Indiana State University New Music Festival
