RECORDINGS

SHOWS

January 12, 2024

November 15, 2023

October 17, 2023

August 19 + 20, 2023

April 17, 2023

September 2, 2022

November 6, 2021

November 2, 2021

October 17, 2021

Archive of previous show here

Bent Duo is Bill Solomon, percussion and David Friend, piano.

After working together for years as ensemble players in NYC's new music scene, Bill Solomon and David Friend have joined forces to create a new project. Bent Duo explores the existing percussion and piano duo repertoire, and commissions new works that exploit the sonic and performative potential of this pairing.

Bill Solomon, percussion

Hailed as a "fine soloist" (NY Times) and "a stand out" (The Boston Globe), New York percussionist Dr. Bill Solomon performs with Ensemble Signal, having appeared at Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, LA Philharmonic, Library of Congress, Guggenheim, Miller Theatre, Big Ears, and June in Buffalo. Signal works closely with Steve Reich, having performed dozens of concerts of his music alongside him, and recorded two critically-acclaimed discs of his music on harmonia mundi, including Music for 18 Musicians, which was awarded a Diapason d’Or in 2015. Signal has performed and worked with many other leading composers, including Lachenmann, Knussen, Haas, Chin, Reynolds, Ferneyhough, Wuorinen, Paredes, Abrahamsen, and Gordon.

Mr. Solomon has performed the solo vibraphone part for Boulez's Répons in collaboration with the Lucerne Festival and IRCAM with Mr. Boulez as conductor. Solo appearances have included the NYC premiere of Unsuk Chin's Double Concerto at Miller Theatre; new German works at Harvard University by Johannes Kriedler and Hannes Seidl; MC Maguire's Narcissus auf Naxos at Victoriaville Festival ("brilliant percussion work", The Wire), as a featured soloist at SEAMUS National Convention, and at Princeton Sound Kitchen playing music by Donnacha Dennehy. Additional appearances have included Liz Gerring Dance, performing an hour-long work for percussion and electronics by Michael Schumacher; music by Crumb at BAM Next Wave Festival with Dawn Upshaw; and Ryan Trecartin’s Jazz Fest at Park Avenue Armory. He performs solo recitals throughout the US and abroad, often premiering new works, and gives masterclasses at universities.

He is a member of Bent Duo with pianist David Friend, having toured throughout the US performing and commissioning experimental works, with forthcoming releases by Sarah Hennies and Casey Anderson. Mr. Solomon frequently performs with Talujon Percussion, Hartford Symphony, and has appeared with Talea Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, A Far Cry, Sound Icon, and Callithumpian Consort.

He is a founder of the Queer Percussion Research Group, an international research and performance collective, and has given papers at conferences and symposia on queer musicology and percussion in the US, Norway, and Australia. He studied traditional Korean music at the National Gugak Center in Seoul, South Korea. His recent recording of Matt Sargent’s solo percussion work Ghost Music was released on Weighter Recordings (“a bounded and essential space,” Wire), and other recordings can be found on Mode, EUROArts, Cantaloupe, Naxos, Albany, New World, and on the soundtrack for Project Rebirth by Philip Glass. He received his Doctorate and Masters degrees from the Hartt School, and is currently on the faculty of The Dalton School in New York City.

David Friend, piano

As a champion of new and experimental music, David Friend is taking piano performance in new directions. As chamber musician and soloist, he is dedicated to projects that push boundaries and explore new ideas about what contemporary pianism can be. A fearless performer, he has been hailed by critics for his adventurous programming and his captivating performances:  “astonishingly compelling” (Washington Post), “spooky precision” (The Times of London), “[one] of the finest, busiest pianists active in New York’s contemporary-classical scene” (The New York Times).

He has performed at major venues around the world including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Royal Festival Hall (London), the Chan Centre (Vancouver), and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing), and in major festivals including the Lincoln Center Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Ecstatic Music Festival, and the Bang on a Can Marathon.

David Friend has performed with respected new music groups including the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble Signal, Hotel Elefant, and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and he is a founding member of both TRANSIT New Music and Grand Band, NYC’s piano sextet. He collaborates extensively with living composers and has worked with some of the most notable composers of our time including Pulitzer prizewinners Steve Reich, Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Steven Stucky, and Charles Wuorinen. He has recorded for the New Amsterdam, Harmonia Mundi, Albany, Cedille, Dacapo, Naxos and Innova labels, and his playing has been heard on radio stations across the country, including on National Public Radio's Performance Today, WQXR's Hammered!, and WNYC's New Sounds.

As a soloist, David Friend is noted for his charismatic performances and his intelligent programming. He is especially interested in reinvigorating the format of solo programming and engaging with audiences. Solo recitals provide the opportunity to present a uniquely intimate window into the mind of the composer and performer. By basing his solo programming on this fundamental concept, David Friend brings a nineteenth-century format into the vital present.

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