First performing together in 2008, Michael Duke and David Howie have made the impetus for their duo the presentation of exciting and innovative chamber music. Of particular interest and drive for the duo has been their close collaboration with some of Australia’s most prominent and respected composers—commissioning, recording and performing these new works written specifically for them. Leading composers that have written for HD Duo include Anne Boyd, Michael Smetanin, Matthew Hindson. Mark Zadro, Gerard Brophy, Tim Dargaville, Andrew Batterham, Brenton Broadstock, Miriama Young and Paul Sarcich.

Meeting as colleagues at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Duo is frequently featured on the conservatorium’s concert series. As well as performing regularly across the major cities of Australia, HD Duo has also appeared in concert throughout the world in countries such as Thailand, USA, Singapore, UK, France, Malta, Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Canada, Croatia, Mexico and French Polynesian New Caledonia. Highlights include frequent performances at the World Saxophone Congress (2009, 2012, 2015, 2018), being featured artists at the North American Saxophone Alliance conference Indianola, Iowa (2011), their UK debut in concert at Australia House, London (2012), the Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet Conference (2013) and recital concerts at the Festival de Mexico in Mexico City (2014).

As seasoned educators HD Duo has relished the opportunity to work with students, presenting master classes and workshops at institutions such as the University of Minnesota, California State University Long Beach, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh and the University of Queensland. In 2014 their second recording Incandescence: Music for saxophone and piano by female composers was released on the Saxophone Classics Label (UK).

In 2015 they were recipients of a COALAR (Council on Australia Latin America Relations) grant that enabled them to commission new works by Mexican and Australian composers for their third CD. They travelled to Mexico City, where they workshopped the new Mexican pieces with the composers, performing the works along with the new Australian compositions in concerts and a live broadcast at Opus FM. They also gave masterclasses at NICO and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Throughout the remainder of 2015 they toured the new works throughout the major cities in Australia.

Other recent projects include Music of the Commonwealth, funded by a generous grant from The Elizabethan Theatre Trust which aims to commission, record and tour new works from each of the 53 Commonwealth Countries. The first CD will contain compositions from Australia, Canada, UK, Malta, Cyprus and Sri Lanka. They will then produce one CD every following year containing 6 new countries until the list is exhausted.

The Australian Thais project is a collaboration of new music commissioned by Australian and Thai composers, which has been enabled by an internal grant from the University of Sydney. They have commissioned new works from three Australian and three Thai composers, which were subsequently toured in both countries.