Owen Gunnell - O Duo (2011)

Described by The Daily Telegraph as ‘brimming with style and panache’, over the last two years the members of O Duo have made their BBC Proms debut, won a Special Commissioning Award from the Borletti:Buitoni Trust, and been appointed Artistic Directors of the Children’s Classic Concerts series in Scotland. In 2010 they returned to the Proms to give the premiere of Wilful Chants by Stephen Montague with the BBC Symphony Chorus, and gave recitals at Wigmore Hall and at the Cheltenham, and City of London festivals.

Formed in 2000 at the Royal College of Music, O Duo released its first commercial CD on Sony BMG in 2007 to critical acclaim. An outstanding communicator, O Duo has worked at the Abbey Road and Sony studios on television and film scores, and broadcast on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, Channel 4, and BBC Television. In 2003 and 2004, it won Best Music Act of the Fringe at the Edinburgh Festival, and in 2009 took part in a concert of music by Moondog (the iconic American composer) at the Barbican.

O Duo’s repertoire spans more than 300 years and is an invigorating mix of classics and accessible contemporary works played on two marimbas, vibraphone, and a huge array of percussion. They members are passionate about commissioning new work.

This new recording on Champs Hill is full of the variety, energy, and imagination for which they are fast becoming famous