The violin and piano duo—Maya Bennardo (violin) and Karl Larson (piano)—performs works by recent Rome Prize winner (and School of Music alumnus) Anthony Vine and others.
Artist Biography
Bennardo Larson Duo
The Bennardo-Larson Duo is an NYC/Stockholm- based contemporary classical duo committed to the performance and promotion of forward- thinking works for violin and piano. Comprised of Maya Bennardo (violin) and Karl Larson (piano), the duo is dedicated to aesthetically diverse programming that illuminates new repertoire for their instrumentation alongside intrepid works from the past. The Bennardo-Larson Duo was formed in 2016 when they undertook the task of learning and performing Charles Ives’s complete works for violin and piano, which they presented on their annual ‘Ives of March’ concerts from 2017-2019. Since then, the duo has steadily built a repertoire of pre-existing and newly-commissioned works for violin and piano.
The Bennardo-Larson duo has been featured on the MATA Festival at the Kitchen in New York, NY, the Bowerbird Series in Philadelphia, PA, the Toledo Museum of Art’s ‘Great Performances Series’ in Toledo, OH, the Music Mansion in Providence, RI, and Khimaira in Stockholm, Sweden. Their programming features the complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Charles Ives, Morton Feldman’s monumental ‘For John Cage,’ and ‘a wind's whisper,’ a program featuring works by John Cage, Michael Pisaro, Eva Maria Houben, and two commissions by Adrian Knight and Kristofer Svensson. In April of 2024, the duo will present the world premiere of two substantial new commissions by Anthony Vine and Maya Bennardo on the Bowerbird Series in Philadelphia, PA. These two new works will be the focal point of the upcoming 2024-2025 season and two new albums, which will be released in 2025.
Beyond the concert stage, Bennardo and Larson are passionate educators, offering workshops in contemporary string and piano technique for performers and composers. They have offered masterclasses and lectures at notable institutions including the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University.