The Ardente Duo is comprised of flutist, Cassandra Eisenreich and clarinetist, Danielle Woolery. Their collaboration started as doctoral students at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where they were graduate teaching assistants and Henry Mancini Institute Fellows. The Ardente Duo has given both performances and presentations at local, regional and national levels. In 2011, they won the Co-op Press Recording Assistance Grant, resulting in their commission and premiere of “Hep Cats” by Sy Brandon. The Ardente Duo is committed to the expansion of the flute and clarinet repertoire and enjoys working with composers to perform and promote diverse works written for flute and clarinet. Dr. Cassandra Eisenreich is currently on faculty at Barry University, where she teaches Flute, Ear Training and Eurhythmics. She also serves as Instructor of Flute, Music Theory and Eurhythmics at the University of Miami Frost School of Music Preparatory Program. She has performed regularly with the Florida Grand Opera, Florida Sunshine Pops, and Walenstein Symphony Orchestra and holds degrees in performance and music education from the University of Miami and Slippery Rock University. She is an active performer and clinician at the local, state, regional, national, and international levels. Dr. Danielle Woolery is an active performer, clinician and educator. She has performed and presented at local, regional, national, and international levels, including performances at the International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest, the SEAMUS National Conference, and the University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium. She received her DMA in instrumental performance from the University of Miami and holds degrees in performance and music education from Webster University and the University of North Texas. Dr. Woolery currently serves as faculty at the University of Miami Frost School of Music Preparatory Program as an Instructor of Clarinet, Piano, and Music Theory. From performances of his music on NPR’s “Performance Today” to the use of his music on TV’s “Animal Planet” and MTV’s “Never Before Scene”, Sy Brandon’s compositions and arrangements are as varied as they are accessible. His versatile ease in composing effectively for young musicians as well as professionals and his ability to utilize jazz and folk music in addition to writing in more abstract styles, enables his music to meet the needs of a wide variety of performers. Conductor, Larry Newland describes his music as "stirring, well written, and highly effective with its audience." His music has been performed live and via broadcast throughout the United States and abroad, including performances by the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force Bands. Sy Brandon has received numerous awards including first prize in the WITF-FM's 25th Anniversary Composition Contest. In 2010, he was awarded a commission from the Arizona Commission on the Arts to compose the band composition celebrating the Arizona Centennial during 2011-12. The Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Bulgarica and the Kiev Philharmonic have recorded his music. Sy Brandon (b. 1945 in New York, NY) holds the rank of professor emeritus of music from Millersville University, Millersville, PA. He received his B.S. and M.S. in music education from Ithaca College and his A. mus. D. in composition from the University of Arizona. He is the author of “A Composer’s Guide to Understanding Music.” A complete catalog of his music can be found at http://cooppress.net. Hep Cats was originally composed during 2008 for solo clarinet and was adapted for flute and clarinet in 2011 for the Ardente Duo. The title is a double entendre, first suggesting the jazz influences, and second, being a musical portrait of felines. The first movement is called “Siamese” and was written in memory of the composer’s cat, Siegfried, who was part Siamese. It is an upbeat, swing movement. “Angora” is the title of the second movement and is moody, bluesy, and mysterious. The last movement, “Tom” is in a rock style and is aggressive. Little Suite was written for the composer's niece who is a violin teacher and was adapted in 2011 or flute and clarinet for the Ardente Duo. Little Serenade has some easy meter changes. Little Waltz makes use of a counter melody and is in arch form. Little Dance uses canon and imitation. Little Lullaby is in 6/8 and uses contrast between legato and staccato. Little March has several themes separated by fanfare interludes. Suite was written for Andy Wen and Willie L. Morris III for a performance at the 2000 World Saxophone Congress in Montreal and transcribed in 2011 for the Ardentte Duo. While the movements are based in tonality, they move freely from key to key. The movements are modeled after a Baroque suite and treat the two instruments contrapuntally. Regal Variations was composed during 2008 for the Ballif Duo, consisting of Kristi Ballif, flute and Adam Ballif, clarinet. The inspiration for the work was Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations”. Elgar created a marvelous set of variations that treat the theme symphonically by varying the motivic ideas instead of just keeping the form of the theme constant and building the variations on that structure. The result is a set of variations that are connected, yet varied in mood. “Regal Variations” is smaller in both instrumentation and the number of variations, but it tries to capture the symphonic quality of Elgar’s work. The title is an anagram of Elgar’s name. The inspiration for Kaleidoscope, composed in 2005 for the Siverwind Duo, is the ever-changing geometric patterns that appear when using this visually stimulating toy. The music of each movement, while containing some repetition and contrast is constantly transformed into numerous variations of the initial idea. The patterns that appear in a kaleidoscope are often geometric, therefore inspiring the titles of the movements and the ideas for their musical counterparts. Quadrangles is in a fast 4/4 using lots of harmony on 4ths and melodic material based on 4ths. Ellipsoids is in a slow 3 with overlapping phrases suggesting all sorts of oval shapes. Pentagons is in a moderate 5/4 with harmony and melodic material based on fifths. Triangles is in a fast 6/8 with thirds being the harmonic and melodic departure point. Recital Duets was composed in 1981 for English Horn and tuba and was first performed by the composer and his wife, Anita. In 2007, the composer created versions of these duets so that they can be played by any combination of instruments. The harmonic language is modal and the work consists of seven contrasting movements.