Duo Noire is the name of the classical guitar pairing of Thomas Flippin and Christopher Mallett. Flippin and Mallet, both of whom are African American and graduates of the Yale School of Music, are advocates for fresh perspectives in classical music.
Their new album "Night Triptych" features music of contemporary women composers. In the album's press release, Duo Noire said, "Year after year, many major concert series feature less than 5% of music by women. We felt like classical music was impoverishing itself by not including the artistry of incredibly gifted women composers like the ones we collaborated with on this album."
Each piece was commissioned specifically for this new album. The composers include Clarice Assad, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Courtney Bryan, Golfam Khayam, Gity Razaz and Gabriella Smith. Duo Noire says that they feel each composer has made extraordinary contributions to the literature for guitar duo.
"Night Triptych" takes its name from Khayam's three-movement suite.
For video preview of the album, click https://youtu.be/ltNI_cPcjGI" target="_blank">here. Read the entire press release, including brief biographies of each composer, here.
