LIGAMENT

Recently described as “perverse and nihilistic” by someone on Twitter, Anika Kildegaard (voice) and Will Yager (double bass) are LIGAMENT, an ensemble dedicated to commissioning new music and creating work for their unique instrumentation. LIGAMENT’s performances are a fusion of standard and non-standard elements; sometimes there are high heels and sometimes there are electric toothbrushes (and sometimes both). The duo is equally at home with extended techniques as with extra-musical elements.

LIGAMENT means business: they’ve been ensemble fellows at New Music on the Point and Cortona Sessions for New Music; have performed in concert series iHearIC, Feed Me Weird Things, University of Iowa Center for New Music, and Bowerbird; have been tapped as the collaborating ensemble for dance performances not I but that which works within me (Alyssa Gersony). Other performance highlights include the Kansas City Contemporary Music Festival and Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s Re:Sound 2021. Recent seasons have included tours with duos Ogni Suono and Sydeboob Duo, residencies at the University of Idaho and University of Iowa, and collaborations with the composition department at the Peabody Conservatory. Their 2025-26 season includes being the guest ensemble at the University of Northern Iowa and University of Georgia new music festivals, and a tour across Ohio. They have premiered many new works, and have an upcoming album of pieces written expressly for the duo.

LIGAMENT is currently based in Iowa/Philadelphia