Duo LiveOak

contemporary song

Frank Wallace composer, baritone, guitar, lute

Nancy Knowles mezzo-soprano, poet

Duo LiveOak is a fresh, visionary voice in alternative classical music, creating a body of lyrical contemporary art song rooted in traditions that reflect both a temporal and an ethnic diversity. Nancy Knowles and Frank Wallace collaborate as poet and composer in new songs with echoes of blues, medieval, jazz, and classical music from Ravel to avant garde. The power of great poetry infuses their work.

Infectiously charming in performance, graced with old fashioned skill and integrity, Knowles

and Wallace are eloquent, whimsical, passionate, versatile, colorful, and entirely original. Rare composer/performers, they do not merely entertain--they engage the audience with their sense of drama, Wallace’s guitar wizardry and their meltingly beautiful vocal ensemble.

Duo LiveOak's musical roots go back to the 12th century: for two decades LiveOak was known for its performances and recordings of medieval and renaissance music.   Committed to outreach, education, and the environment, Nancy Knowles and Frank Wallace are skilled teachers who are actively promoting a new humanism in the arts that celebrates diversity

and multiplicity.

Read LiveOak History   See Discography  See Photographs    Read interview

Nancy Knowles, mezzo-soprano, poet, visual artist and actress,is consistently praised by critics and audiences alike for the beauty of her voice as well as for her presence and grace on stage. As a poet she collaborates with Wallace on the texts of his song cycles.  Knowles' poems have been set to music not only by Wallace, but also by Ed Mascari, in a song cycle for Duo LiveOak, Between Light and Dark the Spirit Dances. Nancy Knowles also creates and performs solo dramatic works.  With Wallace accompanying on 16 new songs, she is currently performing SYZYGY: notes from a far hill, a multidimensional piece with poetry, dance and live painting, about loss, survival, and the healing power of art.                                          Visit Knowles' blog

One of the most prolific guitarist-composers of our time, Frank Wallace's music has been called "contemporary musical emancipation" by Frank Oteri of NewMusicBox.org . With echoes of blues, medieval, jazz, Latin, and classical music from Ravel to avant garde, Wallace's compositions showcase the classical guitar in solo, duo, trio and quartet, as well as in chamber works with voice, flute and cello. In the past ten years, Wallace has written over ninety songs, most of them in groups (cycles) ranging from six to fifteen songs. The richness and complexity of his song accompaniments and his compelling vocal melodies highlight the influence of his mentors, from Dowland to Schubert to Britten. A master of self-accompanied song, Wallace specializes in contemporary music, touring internationally both as a soloist and with mezzo-soprano Nancy Knowles as Duo LiveOak. In Boston, Wallace directs the new music Festival 21, and in New York City he co-directs the Second Sundays Guitar Series at Roger Smith Arts. “He is an impressive talent in every respect; he is a strong guitarist, a composer with a distinct voice, and a confident vocalist.”—Soundboard