Music on the Hill presents: ChromaDuo, a guitar duo by Tracy Anne Smith and Rob MacDonald.
A dedicated voice in the new music world, ChromaDuo is vigorously commissioning, performing, and arranging some of today’s most exhilarating music. Praised by Byzantion for their “[unfailing] intonation, expressiveness and musical intelligence,” Tracy Anne Smith and Rob MacDonald unveil refreshing and innovative programs of new works by some of the most exciting composers of our time.
ChromaDuo has commissioned works from the incomparable Parisian Roland Dyens, irreverent British powerhouse Stephen Goss, polyrhythmic mystic Dusan Bogdanovic, and emerging talents Christopher William Pierce, José Mora-Jiménez and Florian Magnus Maier. Alongside these creations, their unique concert programs feature standout pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries. Dedications to ChromaDuo can be found in the ChromaDuo Collection at Productions d’Oz.
Their first recording, Hidden Waters, featuring five world-premieres by Dyens, Goss, and Pierce, was re-released by Naxos Records in 2012. Garrett Schumann of Sequenza21.com called it, “one giant, convivial, through-composed exploration of the guitar’s expressive range… [T]he restraint of the performance makes you want to lean in closer to hear the expression on every note.” Kenneth Keaton of American Record Guide called the CD “a treasure,” and said, “ChromaDuo…is simply exquisite. Their sounds are perfectly balanced, yet individual, and each has a ravishing tone with lots of range. Ensemble is perfection, even in the freest passages; and their interpretations of these pieces are convincing, even compelling. This is some of the most purely beautiful playing I’ve heard in a while.” The CD is also recommended in Enrique Robichaud’s book, The Guitar’s TOP 100.