Bio  Calendar  Repertoire  Bookings

Primary Duo



Aaron Trant, Percussion Sarah Bob, Piano


“Pianist Sarah Bob and percussionist Aaron Trant gave
...a fire-breathing presentation."
-- David Cleary, 21st Century Music


With vitality and grace, Primary Duo continues to be on the cutting edge of today’s music. Pianist Sarah Bob and percussionist Aaron Trant have been bringing their eclectic combination of rhythmic lyricism to concert halls across North America since 2000. The Duo's repertoire ranges from masterworks of the contemporary genre to self-commissioned world premieres.

Bob and Trant lead active performance lives outside of Primary Duo working regularly with After Quartet, Endy Emby (New York), Radius Ensemble (Cambridge), Boston Modern Orchestra Project, The New Gallery Concert Series and Firebird Ensemble (Boston.)  Through these outside collaborations, the Duo is able to bring a rich combination of improvisation, jazz, classical, and popular genres to the concert stage. Together their sounds blend into music that is both on the fringe and enjoyable for any audience.  Primary Duo can be heard on Cauchemar Records.
Primary Duo is currently arranging 2006/2007 touring dates.
For bookings, please contact Steven Johnson.


Hailed as "sumptuous and eloquent" by the Boston Globe, pianist Sarah Bob  is an active soloist and chamber musician noted for her colorful playing and diverse programming.  A strong advocate for new music and considered a "trailblazer when it comes to championing the works of modern composers and combining art media in the process..." (Northeast Performer), she is also the founding director of the New Gallery Concert Series, a series devoted to commissioning and uniting new music and contemporary visual art with their creators.  She is an original member of many ensembles including her piano/percussion group, Primary Duo, the 20th and 21st century focused Firebird Ensemble, and Radius Ensemble, a fresh and creative chamber music collective that presents both the traditional and cutting edge. Recognized as a risk taker and cited for an "ideal combination of all-stops-out abandon and sure-footed technical control" by 21st Century Music, she is a grant recipient of the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music and top prizewinner of the International Gaudeamus Competition 2001.  She is also the recent recipient of the St. Botolph Club Foundation's 2005 Grant-in-Aid Award, an honor that recognizes the quality of her work and artistic merit.Recent concert appearances include Carnegie Hall and Symphony Space in NYC as well as Boston's Jordan Hall  and Goethe Institute. Sarah, a native of Teaneck, New Jersey, presently resides in Boston and can be heard playing the music of Lee Hyla on the Tzadik label, Curtis K. Hughes on Cauchemar Records, and collaborations with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project on New World and Oxingale Records. For more information, please go to www.sarahbob.net.


Aaron Trant, percussion, cited for his “melodic, if unpitched, voice” (Spendidzine), is both an active performer and composer. He has  received great acclaim for his original score and solo percussion performance of the Chris Marker film, La Jetée and his eclectic knowledge of classical, jazz, rock, contemporary and improvised music has made him an asset to many ensembles throughout the United States. Aaron is the cofounder, performer and composer for the After Quartet, one of the few groups dedicated to the art of live musical accompaniment of silent film.  He is also the assistant director and percussionist for the Boston based group Firebird Ensemble, a new music chamber group.  Aaron is an original member of Primary Duo as well as Endy Emby (trumpet and percussion), the Adam James Wilson Quintet (NYC);High Street Percussion (Miami, Florida); and the frequently touring group Cordis. He also performs regularly with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Fromm Players (Harvard; Cambridge, MA) the new music group Alarm Will Sound and the New Hampshire Music Festival. He has been seen in a variety of concert venues including Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, (NYC) Jordan Hall (Boston) and Mexico’s Palacio de Bellas Artes.  Aaron, recognized for his talent as both a performer and composer, is the most recent recipient of the St. Botolph Club Foundation’s 2007 Grant-in-Aid Award. Now residing in Boston, Aaron can be heard on the Boiled Jar, Cauchemar, Nepenthe and Stone Quarry labels.

"After hearing numerous performances, I am always struck by the totally engaging, virtuousic and electric energy Sarah Bob and Aaron Trant bring to the music they perform as a duo."  -- Kate Vincent, Director of Firebird Ensemble

Concert Calendar

2006-2007

Friday
October 13, 2006
8pm
Brooks Concert Hall
at College of the Holy Cross
1 College St.
Worcester MA
In recital with Prana
including music by Roshanne Etezady,
Gaubert, Daniel Pinkham, Ravel, and Aaron Trant.
FREE!!!
Sunday
October 15, 2006
3pm
Town and Gown Concert Series
Ingalls Recital Hall at New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Blvd.
Jersey City, NJ 07305

featuring music by Roshanne Etezady, Richard Grimes,  Jocelyn Morlock, Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Aaron Trant, Frank Zappa and Nicholas Vines.

FREE!!!  Parking available.
Wednesday
October 25, 2006
6:30pm
St. Botolph Grant in Aid Recipient Performance Event
Foundation on Parade
199 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA 02116
Foundation on Parade is a contemporary salon, combining art exhibition, musical performance and literary reading.  
The St. Botolph Club Foundation's annual exhibition of the work of visual art, music and literature Grant-In-Aid recipients 2005.  For more information, please call 617-536-7570.
Tuesday
December 5, 2006
7pm
Club Concert at the Moonshine Room
209 Columbus Ave.
Boston, MA
Club Café Concert
presented by the Boston Modern Orchestra 
Tickets: $15 sold at door or in advance online
Friday 
March 16, 2007
8pm
Stone Mountain Arts Center
Brownfield, Maine
Stone Mountain Live!
a Prairie Home Companion style show, with a variety of musical and comedic talent. An evening of local humor and five star talent, with a killer house band
Tickets: $35 Call 1-866-227-6523
Saturday
March 17, 2007
8pm
Stone Mountain Arts Center
Brownfield, Maine
Stone Mountain Live!
a Prairie Home Companion style show, with a variety of musical and comedic talent. An evening of local humor and five star talent, with a killer house band
Tickets: $35 Call 1-866-227-6523
Thursday
April 26, 2007
7pm
New Gallery Concert Series
@ the Community Music Center of Boston
34 Warren Ave.
Boston, MA 02116
The New Gallery Concert Series presents
ARCHITECTURE AND LULLABIES AROUND THE WORLD
including Quoi??? by Jocelyn Morlock
Tickets: $10/$5 free to the CMCB community
Saturday
June 30, 2007
7pm
Griffin Museum of Photography
67 Shore Road
Winchester, MA
Primary Duo gives the world premiere of  For Two
by Jonathan Bailey Holland
Free!

More concert events coming soon...




Past Seasons

Thursday, October 2, 2004
New Gallery Concert Series, 7pm, Community Music Center of Boston
http://www.newgalleryconcertseries.org

Monday, December 13, 2004
Aaron Trant Faculty Recital
7 PM
Winchester Community Music School
free!
 
Saturday, January 15, 2005
11AM and 2PM -- children's event  ($3 at door)
8PM -- adult performance ($9 at door)
Raymond Walters College, University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH
For more information,
please call Stephanie Trautwein, Cultural Programs Coordinator: 513-936-1576

Thursday, January 27, 2005
New Gallery Concert Series, 7pm, Community Music Center of Boston
http://www.newgalleryconcertseries.org

Friday, July 8, 2005
Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival
7:30PM

Thursday, January 26, 2006
New Gallery Concert Series, 7PM, Community Music Center of Boston
Wolrd Premiere of Strawberry Girl by Nicholas Vines
http://www.newgalleryconcertseries.org

Monday, January 30, 2006
Lecture/Performance in conjunction with
New Gallery Concert Series and Eastern Nazerene College
with composer Nicholas Vines and painter, Christina Memoli
4pm
free!

Saturday, February 11, 2006
New Sounds Lecture/Performance, 2pm, Community Music Center of Boston
Salute to Young Composers
sponsored by Dinosaur Annex and the Community Music Center of Boston

Sunday, March 12, 2006
Chromatic Club of Boston College Club, 3pm
44 Commonwealth Ave. Boston
Admission: $7/free for members

Friday, April 28, 2006
Leverett House at Harvard University, 6:30pm
28 DeWolfe Street Cambridge, MA
free!
Primary Duo

"Sarah Bob and Aaron Trant...are the two most devoted interpreters of my music I have ever been fortunate enough to work with.” -- Curtis K. Hughes, composer

Selected Repertoire List
*written specifically for Primary Duo
Magnify (2000)
Moiya Callahan
*Inside Out for Piano and Drumset  (2004)
Justine Chen
Unsafe (At Any Speed) (2001) Roshanne Etezady
Remnants and Remembrance (2001)
Richard Grimes
*Avoidance Tactics No.1 for Piano and Percussion (1999) Curtis K. Hughes
*Concerto for Piano and Percussion (2006: premiere)
Curtis K. Hughes
Clapping Music (1972) Steve Reich
*Salt (2005) Aaron Trant
*Strawberry Girl (2005)
Nicholas Vines

For bookings, please contact:

Landspeed Artists, LTD.
Steven Johnson
212-971-2402
booking@richardgrimes.org

New Gallery Concert Series Sarah Bob primary duo
calendar Sarah Bob, piano
sarah@sarahbob.net