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Carrie and Tim first met as members of the music faculty at Penn State University. Their collaboration as performers began as the result of discussions about their pedagogical philosophies and surprise at the similarities in their approaches to music making and teaching. They became intrigued by the sonic possibilities created by the saxophone and the viola together, and began searching for musical vehicles that would allow them to further explore this sound combination.
They discovered a few interesting existing compositions, but felt that the potential was largely untapped, so they began to look for composers who shared their curiosity about this sound. The Irrelevants have commissioned and premiered works by composers Charles Griffin, Michael Kimber, Mark Kuss, Martin Lodge, David Macbride, Russell Podgorsek, Dan Roman, Paul Seitz, Bruce Trinkley, Joseph Turrin and Michael Williams. They have also given first performances of new versions of works by Libby Larsen and Hilary Tann.
The Irrelevants have performed throughout the United States, New Zealand and in Italy, including appearances at the World Saxophone Congress and the International Viola Congress. The venues in which they perform range from academic institutions and new music festivals to community chamber music series. Although Carrie now lives in Connecticut, the duo continues to thrive.
The duo's name (The Irrelevants) refers to the combination of these two "underdog" instruments. As they continue performing together however, Carrie and Tim are amazed by both the complementary sonorities that they produce and by the new composite sound of their two instruments together. |
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