video premiere of Shapeshifter
Watch the video here! (excerpt)
NEW@LOG: New video! The Log Journal premieres the video to Molly Joyce's "Shapeshifter," off her recent EP and featuring violinist Monica Germino. Video shot and edited by Kevin Eikenberg of Four/Ten Media:
The Log Journal "Our friends at New Amsterdam Records have given us the opportunity to share a number of exclusive album previews in recent months. Today we’ve got something different to offer along with NewAm: our first VIDEO premiere, for the Molly Joyce composition Shapeshifter. Performed by the Dutch duo of violinist Monica Germino and sound engineer Frank van der Weij, the piece is one of two works included on Joyce’s new digital EP, 'Lean Back and Release.'
Molly Joyce: “Shapeshifter is a work inspired and motivated by physical change and its many implications. When I originally wrote it for the violin and engineer duo of Monica Germino and Frank van der Weij, I was aiming for the violin to gradually ‘shape-shift’ to a new and divergent sound. Thus the video to accompany excerpts of the work utilizes projection mapping and more to distort the actress’s appearance and propel her to a new physical image.”
New release: Monica Germino plays Molly Joyce's Shapeshifter
New Amsterdam Records releases a digital EP of two tracks for solo violin with live and pre-recorded electronics, by Molly Joyce . Monica Germino plays Joyce's entrancing Shapeshifter and Adrianna Mateo plays the title track, Lean Back and Release. Mixing/mastering by Andrew McKenna Lee, Frank van der Weij, Krišs Veismanis, Michael Laurello, and Greg Kalember.
Out now via New Amsterdam Bandcamp subscription & everywhere else on 27 January 2017.
Listen on Spotify
Watch the video (excerpt)
The title track is followed by a more recent work, "Shapeshifter", originally written for the Dutch duo of violinist Monica Germino and sound engineer Frank van der Weij. Premiered in April 2015 in The Hague and Amsterdam, "Shapeshifter" is motivated by the concept of control and losing it. It is driven by the fact that with the duo, Frank is typically not seen visually, and therefore the idea of him controlling Monica’s sound and gradually letting go of that control is highlighted throughout the piece, and for Monica to gradually “shape-shift” to a new and divergent sound. The Shapeshifter recording was engineered by Frank van der Weij, Krišs Veismanis, and mixed by Michael Laurello, and mastered by Greg Kalember.
Molly Joyce on both works:
"Lean Back and Release' and 'Shapeshifter' represent some of my first explorations into composing for acoustic instruments with accompanying electronics, and specifically how these instruments' sounds can transform electro-acoustically. With both works I was striving for a clear form that is driven by the changing range of the solo violinist, and how that change can be driven by an electronic backing track that is also derived from the acoustic violin.
Both pieces are also very much inspired by the violinists they are written for, and were written to challenge and showcase Adrianna and Monica's talents in new and unexpected ways."
READ MORE: Broadwayworld.com
Official violin version of Michael Gordon's INDUSTRY out now!
Out now! video clip of Michael Gordon's INDUSTRY on Cantaloupe Music
The official violin version of Michael Gordon's INDUSTRY is out now! (VIDEO)
BUY NOW on iTunes
BUY NOW in the Bang in a Can store
WATCH THE TRAILER
"a bold, futuristic and ultimately high-voltage vision" video clip of Michael Gordon's INDUSTRY on Cantaloupe Music
We celebrated with live preview in the Netherlands in Ostade A'dam for a capacity audience. Video: Marcel Wierckx, sound design & recording: Frank van der Weij.
"...In her fiery performance of composer Michael Gordon's "tour-de-force of slowly rising intensity" [The Daily Telegraph], violinist Monica Germino revels in pushing the signal-processed limits of her instrument in collaboration with sound designer Frank van der Weij. Filmed and edited by video artist Marcel Wierckx, Industry captures a bold, futuristic and ultimately high-voltage vision of one of the most compelling works in new classical music. At the composer’s request, Germino and van der Weij sought to create the definitive violin version of Gordon's work — a challenge that ultimately resulted in adapting the instrument solely for this piece of music. Germino performs on a modified, amplified, extreme scordatura acoustic violin, together with a battery of effects."
Artist presentation: La Cité des Dames in Cologne
20 January, 20:00: La Cité des Dames - Women in Focus
Presented by: Gleichstellungskommission der HfMT Köln
Venue: Hochschule für Musik und Tanz (Kammermusiksaal)
Unter Krahnenbäumen 87
50668 Cologne, Germany
Telefon 0221 / 912818-0
Read more (in German) musik-in-koeln.de
CLASSICALITE interviews Monica Germino
News, Commentary on Classical Music, Jazz, Theater, Dance & More
EXCLUSIVE: Monica Germino on New England Conservatory, 'RACHE' Murder Premiere and Why She's Finally Ready to Play Michael Gordon's ‘INDUSTRY'
-May 27, 2015 | Lisa Helfer Elghazi
photo of ELECTRA by Anne Reinke
INDUSTRY: preview on 11 April
New video clip of Michael Gordon's INDUSTRY coming out on Cantaloupe Music in spring 2015 - exact release date TBA!
Come out & CELEBRATE a live preview on Saturday 11 APRIL in Ostade A'dam. Video by Marcel Wierckx, sound design & recording by Frank van der Weij. GET TICKETS to AMERICAN WIZARDRY @ OSTADE A"DAM in AMSTERDAM
For now: a 30-second teaser... WATCH THE TRAILER OF INDUSTRY
AMERICAN WIZARDRY - APRIL 2015 NEWSLETTER
10 & 11 April - AMERICAN WIZARDRY
GET TICKETS for 10 APRIL: AMERICAN WIZARDRY @ KORZO in THE HAGUE
GET TICKETS for 11 APRIL: AMERICAN WIZARDRY @ OSTADE A"DAM in AMSTERDAM
• 10 APRIL: DOUBLE BILL - AMERICAN WIZARDRY @ Korzo Theater, The Hague
Monica Germino & Frank van der Weij | Brendan Faegre Edge Ensemble
• 11 APRIL: AMERICAN WIZARDRY - Monica Germino & Frank van der Weij @ Ostade A'dam, Amsterdam
• CELEBRATION! 11 APRIL: live preview of the new INDUSTRY video clip, to be released soon on Cantaloupe Music
More info: click to read the latest newsletter online
"...a tour-de-force of slowly rising intensity" - The Daily Telegraph (UK)
AMERICAN WIZARDRY 11 APRIL in AMSTERDAM
AMERICAN WIZARDRY 10 & 11 APRIL
GET TICKETS HERE
AMERICAN WIZARDRY explores the wizardry of transformation. American composers are the wizards working with Monica Germino (violin/voice/kick drums) and Frank van der Weij (sound design) to transform sound, execute unconventional feats and exploit new technologies.
10 April: Uitkrant (in Dutch)
11 April: Uitburo.nl (in Dutch)
New York
Monica Germino, violin/electric violin/voice
Frank van der Weij, sound design
US premieres at the ACFNY: David Dramm, Karlheinz Essl, Annie Gosfied, Arnoud Noordegraaf
BANG ON A CAN MARATHON: US premiere Julia Wolfe's With a blue dress on 
June 13, 7:30 PM
DEVIATION, a program for violinist and sound designer, presented by the Austrian Cultural Forum, New York
June 14, 2 PM
Workshop with Julia Wolfe, Austrian Cultural Forum
June 16, 1-10 PM
Bang on a Can Marathon, Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts
"Monica Germino Puts Electronics and Violin Together, and Myriad Sounds Ensue" - by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, 16 June 2013
'...an arresting duality of sound and image...psychologically dark and unsettling...earthy and sharp pizzicati...snapping brain synapses...tapped, stomped, played, hummed and sang...a gloriously free and wild fiddle tantrum…virtuosity and mischief-making...digitally processed harmonics...emotional highlight...sonic mayhem...astonishingly rich...virtuosic violin line...rock ’n’ roll moment...binary fire-engine siren...constantly changing sonic environment...juicy double-stopped glissandi...electronic fireworks...affecting vulnerability…'
The New York Times: click here for entire event listing
Events»Classical & Opera
Monica Germino and Frank van der Weij
The Dutch duo of the violinist Monica Germino and the sound engineer Frank van der Weij present a multimedia program of contemporary works for solo violin and electronics by the composers Karlheinz Essl, Louis Andriessen and more.
TimeOut New York: Critic's pick
"This very enticing free program brings together two trailblazing Holland-based musicians, violinist Monica Germino and punk-rock bassist turned sound designer Frank van der Weij, for electroacoustic innovations composed by Louis Andriessen, Annie Gosfield, Donnacha Dennehy and others. You'll need a reservation, and you can make one at acfny.org." click here for TimeOut listing
SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL
Reviewers’ Choices for Best Musical Events of 2013
"In a program for violin and electronics at the Austrian Cultural Forum, Amsterdam-based Monica Germino showed the power of savvy programming, with Frank van der Weij using technology about as perfectly as it gets."
The Strad Magazine
Sophistication and showmanship - by Bruce Hodges
"…Monica Germino gave a veritable masterclass on the use of violin and electronics, packed with sophistication and showmanship."
"a violinist who leaves no elements to chance"
"electronics wizard Frank van der Weij"
US premiere of Julia Wolfe's With a blue dress on at the 2013 Bang on a Can Marathon
Frank van der Weij and I were thrilled to give the US premiere of Julia Wolfe's relentless and ravishing 'With a blue dress on' - for live violin/voice, 4 prerecorded violins & 4 prerecorded voices, performed by one player & one sound designer.
The piece was described by The New York Times as "...a gloriously free and wild fiddle tantrum in which virtuosity and mischief-making went hand in hand."
Chris McGovern, in his wonderful blog The Glass, honored me with comparisons to some of my favorite violinists out there:
"Performing the US Premiere of Julia Wolfe’s “With a blue dress on”, violinist Monica Germino basically reminded me of something that combines the homegrown primal music of Iva Bittova with the electro-acoustics of Todd Reynolds or Neil Dufallo. An amazing tour de force of progressive fiddling and paraphrasing."
Rob Deemer listed us as a highlight as well in his blow-by-blow BANG ON A CAN MARATHON 2013 LIVE BLOG on newmusicbox.org:
"...the beautiful solo violin performance of Monica Germino. I’ve seen a fair helping of works for solo instrument and electronics, but Julia Wolfe’s With a blue dress on may be my new favorite…a major work for solo violin (expecting the violinist to sing)…" "Germino was awe-inspiring in her performance of the work and the sound design by Frank van der Weij was just right…definitely one of the highlights of the concert so far."
more about the Marathon: broadwayworld.com
Watch a fragment of the Bang on a Can Marathon performance here!
Dutch Performing Arts events: click here to read more
"As part of the New York River to River Festival, violinist Monica Germino, based in Amsterdam, is coming to New York to perform as part of the Bang on a Can Marathon, in the US premiere of Julia Wolfe’s piece, With a blue dress on. The Bang on a Can Marathon is a new music extravaganza, which has become an annual, not - to - be - missed event in New York and beyond since it was first held in 1987. Together with Dutch sound artist / engineer Frank van der Weij she will also perform and present a workshop at the Austria Cultural Forum New York." 
photo: Julia Wolfe and Monica Germino
