Duet Behavior is an intimate evening of Meredith Monk’s music as it has never been experienced. Through a conversational approach, long-time friends and colleagues Monk and Hollenbeck expand and improvise 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.

Repertoire includes: selections from Songs from the Hill (1975-1976), Light Songs (1988), Book of Days (1988), Cellular Songs (2017); new, and other works.

Meredith Monk, voice, piano, jew’s harp

John Hollenbeck, percussion

MEREDITH MONK is a composer, singer, director/choreographer, filmmaker, and creator of new opera, music-theater works, films and installations. Recognized as one of the most unique and influential artists of our time, she is a pioneer in what is now called “extended vocal technique” and “interdisciplinary performance.” Celebrated internationally, Monk’s work has been presented at major venues throughout the world. 

In 1965, Merdith Monk began her innovative exploration of the voice as a multifaceted instrument, composing solo pieces for unaccompanied voice and voice and keyboard. In 1968 Monk founded The House, a company dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to performance, and, in 1978, she founded Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble to expand her musical textures and forms.

In addition to her numerous vocal pieces, music-theater works and operas, Monk has created repertoire for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments. Her discography includes such landmark albums as Key (1971), Our Lady of Late (1973), Songs from the Hill/Tablet (1979), Dolmen Music (1981), Turtle Dreams (1983), Book of Days (1990); Atlas: An Opera in Three Parts (1993), Mercy (2002), Impermanence (2008), Songs of Ascension (2011), On Behalf Of Nature (2016), most of them under the ECM New Series label with which she has been recording since 1981. Her music can also be heard in films by such directors as Terrence Malick, Jean-Luc Godard, David Byrne, and the Coen Brothers.

Monk directed the feature films Quarry (1979) and Book of Days (1989). Her films, installations and drawings have been shown in major museums and events such as the Walker Art Center and Whitney Biennial. Her short films and several of her drawings are included in the collection at MoMA.

In June 2023, Monk premiered her newest work, Indra’s Net, at the Holland Festival, the third part of a trilogy of her works exploring our relationship with the natural world, following the highly acclaimed On Behalf of Nature (2013) and Cellular Songs (2018). From Fall 2023 to Spring 2024, Meredith Monk. Calling, her first European retrospective exhibition, was realized as a collaboration between Oude Kerk Amsterdam with Hartwig Art Foundation, and Haus der Kunst München. Fall 2024 marks the start of Monk’s 60th Performance Season with the North American premiere of Indra’s Net at Park Avenue Armory in New York.

Meredith Monk has received numerous honors and awards, namely the induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama, two Guggenheim Fellowships, three “Obies” (including an award for Sustained Achievement), two “Bessie” awards for Sustained Creative Achievement and an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France.

For more information, please visit www.meredithmonk.org