Ménage à Trio is a string improv trio featuring Betsy Tinney on cello, Sunnie Larsen on viola and Alexander James Adams on fiddle (and, sometimes, Marcos Duran on drum). Together they will create musical magic right in front of your eyes! No pre-arranged or memorized melodies, keys, or tempos; instead, they improvise music inspired by prompts from their audience (for example, "Insomnia," "Whisky and Chocolate," or "Kittens on a Spaceship"). An ongoing, always once-in-a-lifetime experience that should be not be missed; come and be part of creation!

Ménage Virtual Concert - September 3, 2023 at noon PDT

Ménage has a one-hour virtual concert on Sunday, September 3, 2023 at noon Pacific time!

We are once again Making Stuff Up under the trees! As always, we'll be improvising brand-new music inspired by audience prompts -- friendly attic ghosts, menopausal mermaids, and everything in between! This will be a pre-recorded video of Ménage's August 12 improv session (and thanks to all for sending such great prompts!). Because we'll be watching the video alongside you, we'll all be able to participate in the concert-side chat. We can't wait to see you there!

Ménage's LIVE ALBUM iS OUT NOW!

Ménage has just released a full-length live album: Ménagerie: Ménage à Trio Live at Conflikt 2019. As you might guess, it's a live recording of Ménage's concert at Conflikt 2019. For that concert, we were joined onstage by Amy McNally (fiddle) and Dr Mary Crowell (clarinet) -- so for this concert, we are Ménagerie.

This is not simply a "raw" recording of a live concert; Betsy and Alec have spent quite a bit of time tidying it up, mitigating issues like audience coughs and inter-instrument volume/balance as best we could. We didn't "clean up" any of the raw energy, enthusiasm, or joy that was part of this recording, though! You'll be able to hear our (enthusiastic and chaotic) audience calling out prompts before each song; you'll hear us creating new music in the moment in response to those (often interesting) prompts; and you'll probably also be able to tell what a giant bunch of dorks we all are. We have so much fun making music together!

Ménagerie is now available on our Bandcamp page, both as a download and as a physical CD! For the track listing, click the back-cover image at right.)

Ménage HAS A NEW EP!

Ménage has a new album! It's called Iménagening, and it's just a wee EP (because pandemic) of four songs... but such sweet songs!

All of the pieces on Iménagening were improvised on the spot (the way we always play together -- with no advance planning and no retakes). One was improvised "in studio", about two years ago. But, the other three songs were recorded on Betsy's shady front lawn on a lovely day last summer. We were socially-distanced at the time, so were pretty surprised at how well the recordings came out. Of course, there were birds and airplanes and a bit of wind noise, because the recording was made live and outdoors. (And, we were very happy to be together, alive and outdoors, at the time!)

Iménagening is now available on our Bandcamp page (both as a download and as a physical CD)!