patchtax is a viola and saxophone duo based in Boston and currently in their fifth season. The duo explores unconventional performance practices within the realm of classical chamber music. During summer 2015, patchtax crowdfunded a northeast tour and recording project that culminated in the release of their first album at the beginning of 2016. patchtax toured with dancer Elizabeth Epsen and composer/sound engineer Kevin Laba. Their work with dancer Elizabeth Epsen eliminates boundaries between the dancer and musicians, creating work that is both sensual and absurd. Performances were held in Montpelier, Burlington, Montreal and Quebec City and experiences were documented through the creation of music videos. In December of 2015, patchtax organized a performance at MakeShift Boston that was a culmination of the touring and recording project. Here, patchtax collaborated with public artist Daniel Sternof Beyer (New American Public Art), and dancer Elizabeth Epsen, in a performance that experimented with the theatrics of live concert performance, interpretations of patchtax’s music videos, the embodiment of musicians, and the shared physical space of musicians, dancer, and audience. hey spent the month of February in residency at the Banff Centre in Canada, where they continued their exploration of theatricality in music performance.

Over the past four seasons, patchtax has performed extensively in the northeast, at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, the Advent Library Concert Series, SpectrumNYC, ChagallPAC (performance art collaborative), the OpenSound Concert Series, the Somerville Armory, Groupmuse events, the New Art Center, the Nave Gallery Series, BrickBottom Gallery, and Junk Kitchen Series. patchtax’s first commissioning project was in the fall of 2013, where a set of six short duos by six different composers were written to be performed with a food pairing. This created a multi-sensorial experience for the audience. During the Spring of 2014, patchtaxcreated the piece “Love” with composer David Dominique that began and ended with the staging of a ritualistic and surreal dining room scene. In addition to the food and music commissioning project, patchtax has had five new works written for them by Boston, New York and Chicago area composers. In January of 2015, patchtax spent a month in residency at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts in Saratoga, Wyoming, which was a fully funded retreat. patchtax was invited to perform at the 2015 World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg, France.