Formed in Berlin in 2019, the Saviet/Houston Duo focuses on collaboration with composers, new and experimental music, our own compositions, and 19th- and 20th-century music.
Our first performance was a programme based on the theme of Nature and Conservation as part of Sasha Waltz’s festival ZUHÖREN #4 at Radialsystem, Berlin. In 2022, as part of an ongoing project, we performed several new works for re-tuned piano and violin by Catherine Lamb at km28 in Berlin. Other recent performances have included George Lewis and Enno Poppe at Wigmore Hall; the world premiere of Rebecca Saunders/Enno Poppe's Taste at Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik; Ann Cleare and Xenakis at the National Concert Hall, Dublin; a performance at ECLAT Festival featuring new duo works by Arne Gieshof and Zeynep Toraman; and a new duo for piano (with 13 EBows) and violin by Chiyoko Szlavnics, premiered at KM28 in Berlin.
In 2025 we commissioned composer Sarah Hennies to write us a 90-minute duo with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung. The resulting piece “The Blue Hour”, was premiered at Donaueschinger Musiktage, followed by an appearance at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. In 2026 we will give performances of this piece at TimeSpans Festival (NYC), Edition Festival (SE), and Gaudeamus Festival (NL).
We have given talks and workshops at Darmstadt Akademie für Tonkunst, Glasgow University, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Oxford University, HfM Detmold, UC San Diego, Cork School of Music, and HfM Hannover.
Our debut album “a clearing”, featuring five jointly-composed pieces for violin and piano, was released on Marginal Frequency in 2024 and was selected for Bandcamp’s “Best Contemporary Classical Music of 2024” list. Our latest album, “Lines We Gather”, was released in 2025 on Winter & Winter and was nominated for the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
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"The two Berlin-based musicians are among the most important, versatile, and curious figures in contemporary music, and when they join forces and aesthetic concerns their power seems to expand exponentially" - Peter Margasak
