Tales of Johnny Carcrash

with Pat Donaher and Hwaen Ch'qui

October 30, 7:30 pm, Rutman's Violins

Press release * Sound Clips * Contact

Johnny Carcrash, the unusual duo of saxophonist Pat Donaher and pianist Jeff Hwaen Ch'uqi, reconvenes at the Rutman's Violins on Friday, October 30 at 7:30pm. Tapping into a fifteen-year young musical conversation, and two very different musical upbringings spanning classical, jazz and indigenous musics, Johnny Carcrash will perform a set of “instant compositions”, unplanned improvised stuctures that are too tight to be called “free”, and too in the moment to be tunes. The unusual pairing of American saxophonist Donaher and Peruvian classical pianist Ch'uqi began in 1994 when Jeff was Pat's accompanist at the Eastman School of Music. A close friendship and deep musical relationship began there, and the two started improvising as Johnny Carcrash a couple of years later. The two gave their first concert as Johnny Carcrash (a play on Jeff's name) at the Knitting Factory in New York in 2001, and have since played at many venues in the Boston and New York areas. This is only their second duo performance in Boston in the last five years.

Born near Cuzco, Peru, Hwaen Ch'uqi began his musical studies at the age of five, upon arriving to the United States; he gave his first public recital the following year. He currently holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman, studying under Natalya Antonova. He quickly distinguished himself as the only pianist to be three times invited as a fellow to the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center. Mr. Ch'uqi has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and improvisor. Most recently, Mr. Ch'uqi was participated in the Sviatoslav Richter International Piano Competition in Moscow, and received a special jury prize for excellence in performance.

Links: Pat Donaher Bio

recent article in St. Petersberg Times about Hwaen.

Sound Clips: Here is a piece from a Johnny Carcrash concert at the Knitting Factory, summer 2001. One other recording is available on Pat's MySpace page. (Due to the live recording, sound quality is not optimal.)

carcrash part 3