About
Panic Duo is a Los-Angeles based ensemble dedicated to the performance of music of our time. Featuring violinist Pasha Tseitlin and pianist Nic Gerpe, the Duo’s performances of contemporary music have been described by ASCAP’s Michael Spudic as “dynamic” and exciting”. Music critic Paul Muller of Sequenza21 has described their playing as “sensitive, skillful and precise”. Engaging audiences into unfamiliar music through a combination of dialogue and uncompromising musicality, Panic Duo has brought a variety of repertoire to audiences since 2009.
Unique in their facility with works from different styles and periods – classical and contemporary, jazz, modernist, world-music inspired – Panic Duo’s performances feature surprising juxtapositions of works. On the cutting edge of new music, their repertoire includes pieces by John Adams, John Corigliano, Nico Muhly, and Jennifer Higdon, and they have collaborated with composers such as Gernot Wolfgang, Anne LeBaron, Gilda Lyons, Thea Musgrave and Juhi Bansal, commissioning, premiering, and recording new works.
Recent performance highlights include a featured concert on the People Inside Electronics series, including the World Premiere of Anne LeBaron’s Fissure, for violin, piano and electronics, which was commissioned by the Duo. The Duo has performed on the Los Angeles-based series Piano Spheres, Tuesdays at Monk Space, Sundays Live at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and in New York City on the Downtown Music at Grace Series and The Phoenix Concerts.
Panic Duo also performed the opening concert of the 2013 Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles, to great acclaim. They “wowed the audience… the Festival opened with thunderous applause” (Scott Brennan, Paso Robles Daily News), and “played with great bravado, passion and skill” (Krysta Close, USC Polish Music Center).
Panic Duo have performed at venues including Zipper Hall, Leo S. Bing Theater at LACMA, the California Center for the Arts, Thayer and Newman Halls in Los Angeles, California State University Los Angeles and Classical Encounters Foundation, and were the artists in residence for the 2013 New Lens Concert Series.