Experimental radio humor and contemporary music
The Entertainment is a live variety comedy show with musical guests. It is hosted, written, and performed by soprano Nina Guo, with the goal of presenting contemporary and experimental music in a new format. It draws inspiration from the experimental radio art scene in Germany and mid-century American radio shows.
Every episode, a musical guest is invited to perform music of their choosing. In between, we have visits from local experts such as musical analysts Mike&Mikey, technical whizz Bill Marsbars, resident spiritual advisor Cathy Lee, vocal aura intuit Melanigliagliagliagliagliaglia, and animal updates from Millie the Intern.
Nina does all the voices, live.
Pieces
threshold of our fragile bodies by Darcy Copleand
fish by Golnaz Shariatzadeh
Scenes from a Novel by György Kurtág*
*performed by Departure Duo and LAMNTH
Nina Guo
Soprano Nina Guo is interested in the sounds of recent and ongoing times, and her performance practice includes interpreting notated music, improvising, and collaborating on interdisciplinary projects.
As a concert soloist, she has made appearances with the London Sinfonietta, ICTUS, Contrechamps, Ensemble Modern, Decoder, and others. She recently made her Symphony Hall debut, performing Aventures & Nouvelles Aventures (Ligeti). She specializes in experimental opera, working with groups such as Neuköllner Oper, Guerilla Opera, ECCE, and Opera Lab Berlin.
Her upcoming projects include releasing a new recording of Morton Feldman’s Three Voices, and performing the music of experimental composers Robert Ashley and Jennifer Walshe.
Her personal ensemble is Departure Duo, a soprano+double bass duo with Edward Kass. Together, they commission, perform, and research repertoire for their high+low combination.
Nina hosts, writes, and performs a live radio show, The Entertainment, on Cashmere Radio (Berlin). The Entertainment is a comedy variety show presenting experimental and contemporary music.
She lives in Berlin.
LAMNTH
Lamnth is a violin and cimbalom duo founded in 2023 by Lilit Hartunian and Nicholas Tolle dedicated to building a new repertoire for their unique pairing. Their thoughtful and hands-on approach to collaborating has yielded new works by composers including Maya Bennardo, Darcy Copeland, Marti Epstein, Ash Graham, Sid Richardson, Golnaz Shariatzadeh, and Niloufar Shiri. Selected for a 2023 Avaloch Farm Music Institute residency, Hartunian and Tolle rehearsed and workshopped their first commissioned work, Mischa Salkind-Pearl's Lines and Traces of Desire, for a recording to be released in 2025. In 2024 they returned to Avaloch to create a new piece with Bahar Royaee. Their second season in 2024-2025 will see premieres by Anthony Green, Curtis Hughes, John McDonald, and a residency with New Music Brandeis.
In 2024 they launched two annual initiatives: LamnthLab, an open call for composers that will result in two commissions, and the Jack-o-Lamnthern Spooktacular, a Halloween concert that invites composers to "dress up" as other composers by arranging existing music for violin and cimbalom.
Hartunian and Tolle, long established members of the Boston new music community, are frequent performers with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, A Far Cry, Emmanuel Music, and Sound Icon, among other groups. They also frequently perform together with The Ludovico Ensemble, founded by Tolle, including a duo concert in March 2022 which led to the launch of this project.
Departure Duo
Departure DuoKnown for their “inestimable chemistry” with “both intimacy and power” (Take Effect), Departure Duo creates “performances [that] are so secure, so colorful, so full of personality” that “the results are magical” (The Arts Fuse). As “virtuosic performers of undeniable gifts” (Fanfare), soprano Nina Guo and double bassist Edward Kass “simply draw the listener in” (The Arts Fuse) with their “phenomenal musicianship [and] humor” (Which Sinfonia).
Committed to performing and commissioning repertoire for their high+low combination, Departure Duo has premiered dozens of new works resulting from in-depth collaborations, including commissions from Katherine Balch, Sarah Gibson, and Mikhail Johnson. In demand internationally, Departure Duo has sold out performances at Spoleto Festival USA, with recent highlights including Constellation’s Frequency Series (Chicago), Sequence at km28 (Berlin), and Yellow Barn, and more.
Departure Duo has been in residence at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Brandeis University, UC Santa Barbara, and more, with upcoming residencies at Stanford University and Northwestern University.
In addition to performing, Departure Duo has cataloged over 170 pieces as part of their “30x’30” project with the goal of finding 30 hours of soprano and double bass repertoire by 2030.
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