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30/3 2008 We have had a few good experiences during the last months. In september we played at the 25 year anniversary of the music society Ny musik i Birkerød, the programme being mainly by composers with relation to the city Birkerød. We premiered a piece by former inhabitant Anthon Hansen and played Per Nørgård's classic Mating Dance as well as variations by Kuhlau! And Anders played Tristrophoni by Axel Borup-Jørgensen. After the full 3 hour concert, there was a big reception for everyone involved.
In March we visited Bornholm for the second time, playing a concert for the music society Bornholms Musikforening, mainly based on our Nordic tunes CD. We love the island and the people there so we hope to be invited back some time! The concert was favourably reviewed in Bornholms Tidene.

4/1 2007 Happy New Year! We are currently preparing the programmes for coming concerts in the spring. As an extension to the release of the "Nordic Tunes" CD we will offer a programme with folk music inspired works from the whole world. Europe, South- and North America, Japan and possibly Australia will be represented, so every taste should be catered for. We will present this programme at a concert at the Cafe in Musikhuset Aarhus on 1st of April 2007, 14:00. Be there!
The Japanese-Danish programme will also continue as well as the trio offerings with soprano Birgitte Holt Nielsen, and as always there will be room for other works, should the need arise; we have a huge repertoire to choose from.

11/9 2006 Finally! We now have two new CD's on the market, "Nordic Tunes" with music from the nordic countries, and "Toru Takemitsu in Memoriam" with the live recordings of the Japanese concerts mentioned below. Both are again released by Classico Records, and we are presenting them at a concert on 24th September 2006 16:00 in Frederikskirken, Aarhus.  Both CD's are described on the CD page. The CD's are distributed world wide so if you are interested your local record store can get it for you. We have updated the photo download page with some new photos, one of which was used on the inside sleeve of the "Nordic Tunes" CD.

16/5 2006 Our two concerts with contemporary japanese music proved once again that it is not easy to attract the audiences to new music. The concerts went very well though, and we served japanese snacks and green tea after the gigs, which proved to be very popular! In Copenhagen we had three visitors from the japanese embassy fronted by the ambassador in person. Furthermore Noriko Hisada witnessed the world premier of her piece Phase III written for the occasion, and we had the opportunity to meet with Lene Lorentzen from the classical music agency koncrt & koncpt, through which we can be booked in the near future. The agency works with some of the best musicians in the classical field in Denmark.
We have a concert break at the moment, which means that we can finally finish the CD with nordic music, and a live recording of the japanese concerts. From medio july we are on the road again with summer concerts nationwide.



Photo from Rundetaarn, Copenhagen. From left: Anders Borbye, Composer Noriko Hisada, Ambassador Gotaro Ogawa, Marianne Leth, Minister Counsellor Mrs Miyoko Akashi.


25/1 2006 As can be seen from the concert diary, we are fairly busy in the first quarter of 2006! Right now we are busy preparing for the two japanese concerts on 19th and 20th of January. Half of the concert will be works by Toru Takemitsu, while second half will present contemporary pieces by Niimi, Fukushi and Hisada (world premier). An exciting and unusual programme, and we hope a big audience will find its way to the shows! Our programme of nordic music is still very popular, and many of our concerts this year will feature nordic music from our coming 3rd CD.
We have decided to expand our folklore theme in 2007 to embrace music from all over the world, which will widen the repertoire considerably. Apart from works already in our repertoire, we will study new pieces, when time permits. Lots of scores are waiting to be investigated...

25/9 2005
We are doing two concerts with the soprano Birgitte Holt Nielsen in October, in Ryslinge and Vejen respectively (DK). The Ryslinge concert is something of an experiment; the venue is a factory production hall! A small area in the middle of the hall will be cleared and chairs set up in a close half circle around the musicians; otherwise the hall - still in full use - will contain the usual machines and bits and pieces used for the production of blinds and curtains. We are quite prepared for a different experience....!
We have now begun recording material for our 3rd CD, the repertoire will be nordic music inspired by - or based upon - folk melodies. Composers to include Edvard Grieg, Joachim Andersen, Friederich Kuhlau, Carl Michael Bellmann and Peter Lindemann, changes and additions are possible though. There is no release date as of now, but don't expect it to be out this side of Christmas.
Our first CD, Toward the Sea, who has been sold out for a while, will be available again; a reprint is on the way and should make the market mid october.

12/2 2005
As can be seen from the concert diary, we have quite a few concerts in the beginning of 2005, and summer concerts are coming in slowly but steadily. The programme for the concert in Oslo on 27/2 requires a lot of rehearsing, so we have decided to repeat the programme in Kunstbygningen in Aarhus on 11/3. Programme will contain pieces for the duo, as well as solo pieces for both players, with the aid of different kinds of electronics! All works are written by Björn Bolstad Skjelbred and PerMagnus Lindborg, and most of them dedicated to the duo or its members individually. So don't miss this unsual concert!
We are planning to record some works later in the spring, for possible CD release later. Exactly what we will be recording remains to be decided, but our working theme is works based on folk melodies. We have quite a few works who fits this description, so who knows?!

29/7 2004
We are almost through the spring/summer season, which has brought many good moments. We premiered Michael Bønsdorfs work "Sommerfulge" (Butterflies) in april, and it was quite well recieved. a review of the concert can be found on www.vejleklassisk.dk (alas, in Danish!), likewise an excerpt can be read on the reviews page (translated). Michael couldn't be there at the premier, but attended our concert in Markuskirken in Århus in June, where the piece was played as well. The two concerts on Bornholm were played to full houses, and the first one was reviewed in Bornholms Tidende, see reviews page. After the concert in Bindslev we have a break until the end of september. We will try to study new repertoire until then.

2/3 2004
The concert diary for 2004 keeps building up; among other things we have just been booked to play two concerts on the small island Bornholm in July. Our concert programmes this spring all have a strong nordic flavour, though we do get time to play other things as well. As for new works we have decided to give the world premier of the work "Sommerfugle" (Butterflies) by Michael Bønsdorf (DK) on April 29th in Vejle Musikteater. Willy Stolarczyks work for us has been delayed, so that will have to wait a while.

16/11 2003 Towards 2004
The season is over concertwise, and we are beginning to look forward to 2004. The plan is to offer a programme with music from the nordic countries in 2004, who can and will be designed to fit the individual event. However, we are still offering our 10th anniversary programme as well as mixed programmes with music from most of the world. Also our cooperation with the fine soprano Birgitte Holt Nielsen will continue in the coming year.
We will use the concert free space to arrange some music, hopefully to be presented in 2004. We hope to premier one or two new pieces in the spring, so keep an eye on the concert diary!

2/6 2003
Recently returned from a fine trip to Liecester, England. We played at the Leicester Early Music Festival, the venue being The Leicester Guildhall, a part of the town museum in the old part of town. The area still bears witness to the ancient Danish Vikings, who used to rule the country, shown eg. in some of the city names. The Leicester Mercury - the only daily paper in Leicester we're told - wrote a fine review after the concert, see the reviews page. We were treated exquisitely by the festival director John Bence, and hiss staff,  during our stay. It was the 14. edition of the festival and the next one is already being planned, look for the festival homepage.

10/5 2003
The repeat of the 10th anniversary concert in the Round Tower in Copenhagen was very well recieved. The formidable acoustics meant that the music was presented in a perfect environment, enjoyed by both the performers and the audience. Carsten Bo Eriksen heard his work for the first time, and another young Danish Composer with a piece waiting to be premiered by Duo Takemitsu, Michael Bønsdorf, was present as well. The following reception rounded off the event in a perfect way, so we can safely say that the anniversary has been succesfully celebrated.

26/4 2003
The 10th anniversary concert in Århus yesterday went exceptionally well! An especially receptive audience made it a very special night and the concert hall was glowing. There were lots of positive remarks about the programme and the execution of it. Especially the world premiere of Carsten Bo Eriksens work "Song without a Tongue?" made a lasting impression on the audience. The reception following the concert almost turned into a virtual party, but eventually the premises were succesfully cleared, so everybody got home in good condition.

7/4 2003
Last Saturday Duo Takemitsu recorded the new work "Lys" (Light) by Hans Henrik Nordstrøm, who is due for a CD with this composers works. Claus Byrith was engineering once again, and despite the considerable difficulty of the music, the work was done in a good, focused and yet relaxed atmosphere. The CD will be out this summer.