NEWS
In January 2024, we traveled to Niigata, Japan for a residency at YUI Port - we visited Sado Island too.
In December 2023, we visited Tbilisi, Georgia for a second time for a residency at Ikalto Micro Art Residence.
In May 2023, we travelled to Vietnam for a tour from South to North with eight concerts.
In May 2023 we had a fantastic tour of Japan that took us through Tokyo, Yokohama, Kanuma, Fujimi, Kamakura, Yugawara, Matsumoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, and Tokushima.
In February and March 2023, we were in residence in Fez, Morocco for the Nawat Fes program, organized by the American Language Center.
After spending some months around South America, we made our way to Mexico for a month-long trip around the country to perform and do small artistic projects.
In May and June 2022, we travelled from North to South in Chile by bus, passing through Argentina on the way. There were many concerts and collaborations, and impromptu visits to the deserts, plateaus, and mountains.
In April 2022, we had the chance to explore Medellín, Bogotá, Lima, Paracas, Chachapoyas, Cusco, and Arequipa, performing concerts and collaborating with local musicians as part of our tour in South America.
In January 2022, we arrived in the US for the first time in about three years. We spent three months in the country for two artist residencies, Rogers Art Loft and The Watermill Center, that were both productive and enjoyable, and more than replenished our collective quotas of US culture and dramatic western landscapes.
In December, we made our way to the Czech Republic for the first time. It was a packed month with concerts in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, and Pardubice.
Our trip to Tunisia in November 2021 was our first time leaving Europe since we came back from China in July 2020. Even if we spent the entire year traveling to different countries for concerts and residencies, there was something particularly exciting about this trip, and it truly lived up to expectations in introducing us to a completely different cultural landscape.
In October 2021, we stayed for one month in rural Connemara, as part of the Interface Inagh residency. It was a fantastic change to be in touch with a quieter, slower, and more rainy place all while exploring our own musical projects.
August 2021 brought Passepartout Duo to Portugal. While in residence at De Liceiras 18, we played six concerts throughout the country in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, and Valbom. It was a fantastic introduction to a country with an exceptional music scene filled with passionate artists and musicians of every kind.
June and July 2021 brought us back to Iceland and the Faroe Islands to work with two local composers, performing together to make music for sheep and people in unconventional venues.
From mid-May to mid-June 2021, we had the chance to live and work in Barcelona through a program at the Espronceda Institute of Art & Culture called IMMENSIVA.
The New Year brought us to Austria, living and working in an artist in residence program called AIR Niederösterreich from January through March. Our stay was characterized by working with a vintage Buchla synthesizer, filming at the Kunsthalle Krems, and taking long bike rides along the Danube.
With the turning of the new year, we wanted to create a small reflection on these past six months that took us from July 2020 to today. Alongside so many others, our plans for 2020 were completely uprooted, replaced with improvised solutions that were nonetheless full of music, people, and travel.
In May 2020, we traveled to Wunongding Village in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, about 70km from Tibet and 3600m above sea level.
From October 2019 through May 2020, Passepartout Duo spent seven months as artists in residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai.
In October 2019, we took a long train journey across Asia from Tbilisi to Shanghai, connecting our residency in Geneva with our residency in Shanghai. Passing through Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and China we performed concerts using a portable homemade set of instruments along the way.
From July through the end of September, Passepartout Duo had a very special opportunity: three months in residence in Geneva, Switzerland at the Embassy of Foreign Artists.
Nakanojo is the kind of sleepy little town that, for one reason or another, we usually end up staying in. Every two years it awakens again with a sprawling Biennale of contemporary art that hosts over 100 artists. The Biennale focuses on repurposing abandoned and otherwise unused spaces as art venues, taking participants a long way from the white walls of galleries with some stunning results!
For one month, we stayed with Yannis Zhang and Yumo Wu (collaborators from our Iceland project) in their studio in Beijing. Following that, we moved on to Chongqing for a residency at Dimensions Art Center.
We have been planning our Asia tour for more than a year, and ended up scheduling a hectic but rewarding series of universities engagements and performances. After a year focusing on the Nordic countries, we felt like it was time to challenge ourselves and change continents.
Our Nordic Project took us to Denmark, Iceland, Finland (twice), Norway (twice), Sweden, and the Faroe Islands. We were able to premiere works by nine composers and perform at the Summartónar Festival (FO) and Dark Music Days (IS). Hafdís Bjarnadottír wrote us a piece called A Northern Year - we think it’s also a perfect title for our journey. Here are some of the highlights from each stop.
By now, Passepartout Duo has been to the farthest corners of the EU in each direction (Iceland in the northwest, Portugal/Spain in the southwest, Cyprus in the southeast, and the Baltics/Finland in the northeast). What these countries have really taught us, is just how remarkably diverse the EU is.
In July 2018, Passepartout Duo was in residence in Treis Elies for the Kammari Artist Residency, a completely new program starting up in a village of just 20 people. For us, Cyprus was culturally mind-blowing with diversity, natural beauty, fantastic people, and the best food.
By now we've traveled to, and performed or had musical projects in, 54-ish countries.