Expect the Unexpected

António Carrilho, recorders — Katharine Rawdon, flutes — Raj Bhimani, piano

SYRINX : XXII has brought their remarkable onstage synergy to the widest variety of audiences on three continents. Whether performing new works written especially for their unique combination of instruments or freely transcribing works from the past four centuries, audiences hear music in a new way. Performing on piano and a vast array of flutes and recorders of all sizes—a veritable pan-pipe or Syrinx—a new approach to music-making and programming looking forward to the 22nd Century is forged.

The kaleidoscopic range of Syrinx : XXII’s instruments is matched by the variety of their repertoire. Music from the pre-baroque such as Van Eyck, the baroque: J. S. and W. F. Bach, Classical and Romantic works by Gluck, Schubert, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Doppler and Ali ben Sou Alle (France/India), into the 20th Century with Ravel, Debussy, Fauré, and Prokofiev all appear. Jazz-inflected works by Gershwin, Poulenc, Satie, and Ginastera are also on order, as well as songs by José Afonso (Portugal), and recent works by Ian Clarke (UK), Markus Zahnhausen and Sören Sieg (Germany), and Ivan Moody, Eurico Carrapatoso, and Carlos Marecos (Portugal). Works commissioned for the unique instrumentation possibilities of Syrinx : XXII have been the highlight of many programs.

Seeking to bring classical chamber music to non-traditional venues, Syrinx : XXII has enjoyed presenting recitals in a warmly personable fashion at retirement communities and churches, in music festivals, on radio broadcasts on Portuguese national radio and the United States (WXXI Rochester), for children, college students, and arts societies, as well as in more formal settings such as the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, Portugal, the Live from Hochstein Series in Rochester, NY, the Tenri Cultural Institute in Manhattan, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Bombay, India.