biography

Identical twins Michael and Matthew Polonchak got their musical start at the age of five on the violin.

"It was my idea, I wanted to play the violin, not him" Matthew explains. "But Michael just decided he had to go and play the violin, too. He's always copying off of me".

They played in numerous youth orchestras (at age seven, the youngest in the 35 year history of the Washington D.C. Youth Orchestra), adult orchestras, string quartets, recitals in five states (Duquesne University, Shepherd College), even a professional trio with their father. They each won the MSMTA Violin Competition in consecutive years.

Amid their early success, they found themselves dabbling with guitars and harmonies. The "classical" was just not enough.

"Pretty soon, we were spending more time with our guitars then we were practicing our violins. Our teachers loved us for that"

By age eleven, they had written four songs. By age thirteen, that number tripled.

"Shows were popping up and we decided we needed a name. You know, an actual band name. 'Michael and Matthew' just wasn't cutting it anymore".

"We had a few in the back of our minds, but eventially we decided on Transcendent Third. Lately people have been shortening it to T3".

The actual phrase "Transcendent Third" is a Jungian concept that actually describes how they create their music.

"Imagine two creative forces placed in a room, both equal, both opposite, both working to fuel a tension that ultimately will result in the creation of something completely new that is neither one nor the other, but a transcendent third. Now imagine this process happening with music. We are the creative forces, both equal and opposite. Our music is the product of this. Our music is the Transcendent Third".

They now have over 30 songs to their credit and just completed their second CD, "The Feeling", in December, 2004.