Primary Duo

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.