...boldly avant-garde and arrestingly beautiful... ”
Acclaimed improvising flute and piano duo Lina Andonovska and Izumi Kimura have performed together since 2020, including a well-received performances at the Jazz Promotion network showcase in Belfast. Critic Ian Patterson described their music as "...a dialogue of subtly unfolding contours characterized by sotto voce whisperings, dramatic peaks, and sumptuously lyrical middle ground. For improvised music, this was remarkably melodic at its core, pockets of icy impressionism or minimalism aside...for the most part the dialogue was one of contrapuntal improvisation, two voices interweaving, prodding and cajoling, locking into sync and riding the wave, then surrendering to the bravest of bare-bones exchanges."
Pianist Izumi Kimura has performed extensively throughout the country and abroad since moving to Ireland from Japan in 1995. She has worked with some of the leading performers and ensembles from classical, jazz and improvised music disciplines. Her main works in the past decade have been contemporary music across genres in the areas of interpretation, composition, and improvisation. Izumi has worked in various formats with institutions, ensembles and small groups, including RTE Symphony Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, Michael d'Arcy, Benjamin Dwyer, Cora Venus Lunny, and many more from the world of classical/contemporary classical music, and with jazz and improvising musicians including Barry Guy, Gerry Hemingway, Christy Doran, Tommy Halferty, Ronan Guilfoyle, Dominique Pifarély, Benoît Delbecq, Stéphane Payen, and more. She has collaborated with visual artists and sound artists, including Anthony Kelly, David Stalling, Jaki Irvine and Helen O'Connell.
With her performances noted as “re-defining the act of going solo” [The Age], curiosity, fearlessness and versatility carry flautist Lina Andonovska’s artistry around the globe. She is flautist of Grammy Award-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird. A sought-after soloist and collaborator, she has appeared as guest musician with Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, Australian Chamber Orchestra and stargaze. Equally at home with improvisation and the written page, she is critically acclaimed for her interpretation of new music with Rolling Stone Magazine hailing her performance at Bang On A Can Summer Festival as “superbly played...” Lina is a Powell Flutes artist.