In Spring 2018 Sarah and Yanna decided to play together as a serious venture rather than ad-hoc.
At that point, Yanna, happily retired from teaching since 2016, is busy with a big home renovation project since October 2017 and Sarah is working all hours, playing with other ensembles, conducting, teaching, running marathons but both decide that they are ready for a new challenge!
In June 2018 Sarah and Yanna perform for the first time as an official duo on the 9th June. That was the beginning of ANIMO.
Ex-Animo or ANIMO?
We knew that we had to find a name for our duo which reflected our ideals and our communication with our audiences.
As experienced performers we decided that it was time to throw out the rule-book and rather than build 'traditional' programmes with a piece from each era, we decided that we only want to perform pieces we love and have an affinity with. This is the ANIMO trademark.
After going through around 60 different contemporary pieces during four ‘repertoire rehearsals’, we concluded that we prefer music that “speaks” to us. ‘Ex-animo’ (from the heart/soul) was born in June 2018 but it wasn’t until October 2018 that we decided to drop the ‘ex’ and become ANIMO… (soul) a flute and piano duo dedicated to ‘playing music from and for the soul’.
We believe in our brand and we believe that there is another way to enjoy music without labels. It’s just music and it wants to be savoured and for us to be immersed in it.
That’s our motto.
ANIMO
Our story starts in March 2019 with our first recording.
The rest is, as they say, history!
12th March 2019, ANIMO’s first recording
From the moment we decided that the core of our repertoire was going to be contemporary with a mix of Jazz, World music, Folk and abstract, we went ahead and booked a date for recording a few of those pieces just to see what ANIMO sounds like. It was an amazing experience!
Rather than looking for a studio we decided to record live at home. It was a challenge for all of us.
Adam Bertenshaw on sound (and video), and Jack Blanch, a photographer, were both wonderful at making us feel totally relaxed and the 8-hour session went by very quickly.
It really helps to have Adam, an exceptional musician, as our sound engineer; it makes it a lot easier to communicate the kind of sound we are looking for.
We hope that when you listen to our recordings you will discover a different dimension to the blend of sounds and appreciate that all this was achieved in a non-studio environment. We are astounded with the volume of audio and visual material from just this first recording. We know our sound and expectations will evolve as time goes on. We hope that you will join us on our journey!
If you like our performances and want to let us know please contact us. We would love to hear from you!
If you are inspired by our music and collaboration and want us to perform for one of your venues, please contact us.
