A public performance of Edison Denisov’s Sonata for alto saxophone and cello in 2007 astonished and attracted the two instrumentalists by its surprising acoustic characteristics, encouraging them to create their duo, although little repertoire existed at the time.

Carl-Emmanuel Fisbach and Jeanne Maisonhaute collaborate with numerous composers (Juan Arroyo, Benjamin Attahir, Mathieu Bonilla, Pedro García Velásquez, Victor Ibarra, Naoki Sakata…) to constitute an original repertoire, whilst also exploring compositional issues raised by their unusual instrumental combination.

Eager to explore different cultures, the Duo has created links with South America, regularly collaborating with composers and ensembles there. Eager to democratize contemporary art music, they perform lively, playful and multilingual concerts. This in turn has led to a collaboration with the Peruvian NGO Erart in a programmed designed to initiate disadvantaged audiences to music in greater Lima.

The name Denisov Duo was formally adopted in February of 2012 as a tribute to the composer and with the agreement of the composer's family. Their first CD has just been released, with support from the Meyer Foundation; next season will see a tour to Peru and premieres of new works by Keita Matsumiya, Daniel Figols-Cuevas and Juan Arroyo (France Musique).

The odyssey of Duo Denisov, initially formed with Carl-Emmanuel Fisbach and Marie Ythier, has been going on with cellist Jeanne Maisonhaute since 2014.

Duo Denisov (Carl-Emmanuel Fisbach, saxophones ; Jeanne Maisonhaute, violoncello)