Duet Behavior 2020

Meredith Monk's first virtual concert, a series of duets with John Hollenbeck.

Press: Broadway World

music by Meredith Monk
percussion by John Hollenbeck
performed by Meredith Monk & John Hollenbeck

audio engineer Daniel Neumann
video editor Miles Shebar
video direction Meredith Monk
production manager Meredith Belis

Still from Meredith Monk and John Hollenbeck's Duet Behavior.
Still from Meredith Monk and John Hollenbeck's Duet Behavior.

Celebrating their tenth year of collaboration, Bang on a Can and The Noguchi Museum presented excerpts from Duet Behavior 2020 by Meredith Monk and John Hollenbeck, a first-time performance of Monk’s music as it had never been experienced.

Through a conversational approach, long-time friends and colleagues Monk and Hollenbeck expanded and improvised on pieces from across Monk’s 50+ year catalogue, combining her pioneering vocal magic with his inventive and masterful percussion to generate new arrangements of Monk’s iconic compositions.

The duets were performed together but from separate locations — Hollenbeck in Montreal and Monk in upstate New York — using Zoom for the visuals and Jamulus, a tool which enables musicians to perform in real-time over the internet, for the sound. The resulting video presentation was produced by The House Foundation for the Arts.

Still from Meredith Monk and John Hollenbeck's Duet Behavior.
Still from Meredith Monk and John Hollenbeck's Duet Behavior.

Still from Meredith Monk and John Hollenbeck's Duet Behavior.
Still from Meredith Monk and John Hollenbeck's Duet Behavior.

Tools: Premiere, After Effects, Zoom, Jamulus