Kuuskmann-Friar Duo
Featuring GRAMMY®-nominated Estonian bassoonist MARTIN KUUSKMANN and Rome Prize-winning composer SEAN FRIAR on piano, their duo is part classical chamber ensemble and part band. With both instruments amplified and augmented with effects pedals, they bring chamber music into the dynamic present with a varied and expressive program of all-new music that draws influences from classical, rock, jazz, electronic, and ambient music.
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Estonian-born bassoonist Martin Kuuskmann counts as one of the leading voices on his instrument, performing repertoire landmarks from across the entire scope of classical music and avant-garde with celebrated orchestras like the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra on the one hand and with world-famous conductors such as Paavo Järvi and Dennis Russel Davies on the other.
Kuuskmann’s unmatched expressiveness on his reed has led to several bassoon concertos being written explicitly for him by A-list composers in the vein of Erkki- Sven Tüür and Christopher Theofanidis.
His reputation as a chamber musician precedes him, creating countless opportunities for international collaborations with esteemed chamber music ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic Winds and producing partnerships with the likes of Leif Ove Andsnes and Kirill Gerstein. Kuuskmann’s exceptional artistry is documented in a steadily expanding recording catalogue that includes two Grammy nominations and holds promising projects for the near future. Not only has the bassoonist performed on the most renowned international stages – ranging from Carnegie Hall to Sala São Paolo – but Kuuskmann also balances his deep expertise in classical and chamber music with occasional forays into the jazz format, collaborations with the likes of John Patitucci and Joe Zawinul included.
Besides serving as Associate Professor of Bassoon and Chamber Music at the University of Denver, Kuuskmann continues to pursue a prolific career as one of the most sought-after performers in his field. The New York Times has gone as far as using the words “amazing” and “stunning” to describe Martin Kuuskmann’s craft, confirming that the bassoonist is one of the great virtuosos of our time.
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Composer and pianist Sean Friar grew up in Los Angeles, where his first musical experiences were in rock and blues piano improvisation. His music keeps in touch with the energy and communicative directness of those musical roots, now along with an expansive classical sensibility that is “refreshingly new and solidly mature... and doesn’t take on airs, but instead takes joy in the process of discovery [and] in the continual experience of suspense and surprise that good classical music has always championed” (Slate Magazine).
A winner of the Rome Prize, Friar composes for ensembles within and outside traditional concert music, including orchestra, wind ensemble, chamber ensemble, laptop orchestra, and a junk car percussion concerto. He has been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic Scharoun Ensemble, American Composers Orchestra, New World Symphony, Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble Modern, Eastman Wind Ensemble, Piano Spheres, Chamber Music America, and the Fromm Foundation, among many others.
His music has been featured at festivals including Aspen, Bang on a Can, Bowdoin, Cabrillo, Carlsbad, Gaudeamus, Music Academy of the West, Norfolk, and the Venice Biennale. His album Before and After was released in late 2021 on New Amsterdam Records to international critical acclaim, being called “the existential void I want to crawl into like a hot bath on a cold night” by VAN Magazine (Berlin, Germany).
Friar is Chair of Composition at the University of Denver and previously taught at the University of Southern California and UCLA. He holds a Ph.D. in music composition from Princeton and undergraduate degrees in music and psychology from UCLA. His principal teachers were Paul Chihara, Paul Lansky, Steven Mackey and Dmitri Tymoczko.