Duo EXTEMPORE
interpreting history and space through music improvisation
"I was completely blown away"
"…the duo played effortlessly together. If I believed in ghosts (and I'm not saying I don't), I'd wager the former residents [of the Hyde Hall landmark site] applauded as heartily as the live audience."
— Pamela Martin, at the landmark historic site Hyde Hall, NY
Ordinary
P l a c e s
This album was created using field recordings of everyday plaeces as the third member in a musical trio. Evan & Nicole improvised in dialogue with these recordings, exploring the fluid boundaries between music & the ordinary sounds of life we experience each day — & exalting the familiar cycles & spaces of our shared humanity as truly extraordinary.
Early Features & Airplay from WOMR, WFMR, WERU, Nice Clean Quiet, WMBR "The New Edge" with Ken Field, & A CLOSER LISTEN
Duo EXTEMPORE is a 2024 NYFA Awardee for Ordinary Places
pushing the boundaries for what a piano + bass can do together...
...and exploring every shape of music, through film, technology, performance, and beyond.
about the duo:
Duo EXTEMPORE’s curated improvisations draw from classical and jazz virtuosity, weaving together storytelling, local history, architecture, and audience interaction.Past programs include
pairing music and stargazing together inside an observatory; performances with amplified plant biorhythms; museum concerts on historic instruments; and indie music films.Awardees of both NYFA and NYSCA, Duo EXTEMPORE is releasing their debut album Ordinary Places in September 2024, featuring field recordings that uplift everyday sounds as extraordinary.
Evan and Nicole's shared performance credits include Carnegie Hall (NYC), the Banff Centre of the Arts (Canada), Bellas Artes Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramírez (Mexico), the Blue Note (Germany), and the UniJazz Festival (Czech Republic).Each program is tailor-made for its community, and allows listeners the space to rediscover the history and culture around them. Through this process, Evan Jagels (bass) & Nicole Brancato (piano) capture time and space in custom musical creations — unique to the communities in which they are created.
listen + see:
In 2022, Duo Extempore released it's nice to be on the island, a concert film celebrating the complicated history of Roosevelt Island, the quiet sliver of an island in New York City's East River. To shoot the film, they created a custom mobile stage, performing through the streets of New York City with a piano in tow.
“Duo Extempore brought Hyde Hall to life [with] a new experience that left guests wanting more. The talented musicians, through improvisation, explored beautifully the stories of Hyde Hall”
— Colin Havener, Hyde Hall
From ancient times to NASA’s current Artemis missions, humans have been looking up at the sky with wonder. In The Search for Up, Duo Extempore use improvised music to explore human curiosity, our need for connection, and the great cosmos above us.In collaboration with Hartwick College students and Departments of Physics and Music, duo members Nicole Brancato (keys) and Evan Jagels (bass) recorded live improvised music and stargazing interviews at the Wright Observatory in the making of this film.
Avid educators and collaborators, Duo Extempore are frequent guest presenters and teaching artists, including recent partnerships and residencies with the University of Southern Mississippi, SUNY Oneonta, and CUNY Hunter College.As Artists in Residence at the University of Southern Mississippi, their concert incorporated history about local earthen ceremonial Mounds built by indigenous peoples, as well as stories about civil rights activist Ellie Dahmer and her role in the Freedom Summer of 1964.At Hartwick College, they combined stargazing and electronic music in a one-of-a-kind performance in the Wright Observatory. Teaming up with the college's departments of physics, art, and music, they explored how the mysteries of the universe shape our lives.
contact:
For booking inquiries, please contact: duoextemporemusic@gmail.com
© Duo Extempore 2023. All rights reserved.