Strike
Piano/Percussion
"serious and significant music performed with exceptional skill and musicality and no little wit. A disc worth taking a chance on if only to have a piece in your collection called Mechanically Separated Chicken Parts..." - MusicWeb International
Strike was a piano–percussion duo formed by pianist Jeffery Meyer (USA) and percussionist Paul Vaillancourt (Canada). Active from 1997 to 2015, the ensemble was known for adventurous and eclectic programming and a strong commitment to new work.
The duo met while pursuing graduate studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where they studied with Gilbert Kalish and Raymond DesRoches. They were both in residence at the Banff Centre and the Aspen Music Festival as members of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and performed together throughout the United States, Russia, and Southeast Asia.
Strike appeared at the International Contemporary Music Festival “Sound Ways” (St. Petersburg), the Beijing Modern Festival, the Tianjin Conservatory, and the Thailand International Composition Festival. In 2010, they released an album of world-premiere recordings written for the duo on Luminescence Records (Chicago). Later residencies and presentations included the UMKC Conservatory and the The Andy Warhol Museum as part of the Sound Series / Music on the Edge.
The collaboration spanned nearly two decades, with memorable stops in DeKalb, Illinois and Bangkok, Thailand—where the partnership bonded over chicken wings, street fare, and more than one bout of food poisoning.