Dennis Durant trained as an actor at the Baden drama school in Karlsruhe. He began his acting and singing career in 1991. American by birth, he took on parts in TV series alongside his theatre engagements (for both private and public broadcasters) as well as parts in various musicals. He sang and acted in a range of TV series, movies and as part of the swing duo The Sankt Pauli Mad Pack. In October 2002, he followed the call of Broadway hit The Lion King to Hamburg, where he spent two years performing the role of “Scar”.
Since 2005, Dennis Durant has concentrated on releasing his own songs with a great soul influence in the singer-songwriter tradition. He describes himself as a “singer-soulwriter”. Dennis Durant and his band give concerts around Germany in which he presents his songs shaped by the Motown sound of his childhood. He also loves swing, and regularly performs throughout Europe with his show.

The “ALLIAGE QUINTET” is one of the most creative and successful saxophone ensembles in Germany and Europe. Its characteristics are a huge diversity in style, but also the blending of different epochs and ways of playing. This is also represented in their name: alliage is the French physical term for “alloy“, thus referring to the saxophone being an alloy of copper and zinc. In the broader sense, it describes the musical ideal of the five musicians forming one homogeneous whole and their perfectly attuned play.

The quintet was founded by Daniel Gauthier, who has been the first professor for classical saxophone in Germany (at the Hochschule für Musik Cologne) and the ensemble‘s leader and soprano saxophonist. He is joined by three of the presently best soloists on the saxophone: Magdalena Lapaj, alto, Asya Fateyeva, tenor, and Sebastian Pottmeier, baritone. The quintet is completed by the Korean pianist Jang Eun Bae, experienced and well-versed chamber musician.