"…Krakauer joined with the adventurous South African pianist Kathleen Tagg in an exciting new duo project known as Breath & Hammer. At the peak of their conversation, Krakauer sailed through virtuosic passages before taking off on a passionate, soul-stirring improvisation…Throughout their compelling duo set, Tagg joined prepared piano to electronics in increasingly brilliant applications." 
​– Bill Milkowski, Downbeat Magazine. Full Review: DOWNBEAT MAG on a performance at LPR, New York

ABOUT KRAKAUER & TAGG

Grammy-nominated classical, world music artist DAVID KRAKAUER from New York and “mad-scientist” South African sound explorer KATHLEEN TAGG come together to create a body of work that defies stylistic confines and embodies a celebration of identity, communication and cross-cultural connection. Krakauer & Tagg began working together in 2012, and each year have pushed further against the boundaries of standard concert programming by creating programs that completely redefine the sounds and roles of their instruments.
Their unique programs live at the intersection of classical, world music and jazz, and often incorporate loops, samples, sound design and visual elements:

• Unique electro-acoustic show Breath & Hammer with live video feed

• Fully immersive audio-visual surround-sound concert/art installation experience titled The Ties That Bind Us with video designer Jesse Gilbert for the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin.

• Evening-length collaborative work, Keepers of The Flame, with musicians from Syria, Ukraine and Poland, commissioned by the Center for International Dialogue at the Borderlands Foundation in Poland

• Klezmer Fantasy for concert wind band written for the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy.

• Co-composing a clarinet concerto to be premiered in 2021 by David Krakauer & the Santa Rosa Symphony with conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong.

• The score for Minyan by filmmaker Eric Steel, which Krakauer & Tagg not only co-wrote but also performed and produced, premiered at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival and is their first feature film project.

• Krakauer & Tagg’s Mazel Tov Cocktail Party with Sarah MK (vox rap & vocals), Yoshie Fruchter (guitar & oud) Jerome Harris (bass), Martin Shamoonpour (daf & jaws harp) with beat makers Bergsonist and Jeremy Flower.

For All booking information, and information about specific projects, works, scores & information, visit krakauertaggmusic.com

MAKING OF BREATH & HAMMER: THE TIES THAT BIND US

ABOUT BREATH & HAMMER

Grammy-nominated classical, world music artist DAVID KRAKAUER from New York and “mad-scientist” South African sound explorer KATHLEEN TAGG come together to create a body of work that defies stylistic confines and embodies a celebration of identity, communication and cross-cultural connection. Widely considered one of the greatest clarinetists on the planet, Krakauer has been praised internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer as well as a major voice in classical music. Tagg is an award-winning pianist, composer and producer who has performed on four continents, and is becoming known for her distinctive sound that mixes together acoustic and electronic sounds, loops, samples and extended techniques. Krakauer’s use of extended techniques, improvisation, and circular breathing on the clarinet, along with Tagg’s prowess inside the piano to remake it as a harp, a zither, a drum, and a cello creates a collective sound that completely transforms these two acoustic instruments.

Grammy-nominated star David Krakauer and acclaimed composer/performer Kathleen Tagg come together in a passionate, eclectic and highly personal musical journey called “Breath and Hammer”.

In Breath & Hammer, David Krakauer and acclaimed composer/performer Kathleen Tagg come together in a passionate, eclectic and highly personal musical journey that they call “Breath and Hammer”. Krakauer & Tagg share a constant quest to redefine the sounds and roles of their instruments. This project pushes far outside the boundaries of the traditional clarinet and piano recital by including extended techniques, loops and samples in a program of compositions by the duo and a host of performer-composers from around the globe.

Widely considered one of the greatest clarinetists on the planet, David Krakauer has been praised internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer as well as a major voice in classical music. South African-born pianist, composer and producer Kathleen Tagg has performed on four continents in leading venues such as Carnegie Hall, had her original music performed in venues such as New York’s Lincoln Center, appeared on a host of classical, world music and multi-genre recordings and produced numerous CDs and inter-disciplinary programs from South Africa to Los Angeles.

Individually they have an impressive track record of creating innovative programs that stretch the boundaries of traditional concert presentations. In “Breath and Hammer” they bring together their disparate backgrounds to make something new and uniquely their own.

Enhanced by an immersive video feed, this unique collaboration is made up of Krakauer & Tagg’s arrangements of “simple songs” by composers as diverse as New York-based visionary John Zorn, Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, Cuban percussionist Roberto Rodriguez, as well as original compositions by Krakauer and Tagg, with influences ranging from interlocking African drumming patterns to romantic symphonic music to minimalism to klezmer.  These diverse and seemingly disparate musical influences intermingle, transformed into something entirely new, a hybrid art form that bridges the cultures of the past and new work that looks towards the future. www.krakauertaggmusic.com

KEEPERS OF THE FLAME

Co-Composing for Film & CONCERTS

Krakauer & Tagg in Discussion with film maker Eric Steel during the early days of pandemic lockdown as part of their “Sunday Connections” weekly series. Krakauer & Tagg created and produced the soundtrack to Steel’s movie Minyan, which played at the Berlin Biennale in 2020, and which was sold to STRAND distribution.

RECORDINGS

All Krakauer & Tagg Recording information can be found at ALBUMS Page or on their label, Table Pounding Records