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
Sounds of Music Festival
October 25, 20.00
venue: Grand Theatre Groningen (NL)
Premieres of new works by Missy Mazzoli, Ian Wilson, David Dramm
Monica Germino, violin/voice/kick drums | Missy Mazzoli, composer/piano | Fie Schouten, clarinet | Frank van der Weij, sound design
Ian Wilson: Six Twenty-five a.m. for singing violinist and sound designer (2014) (world premiere)
Premiere of the concert version David Dramm's Hammerhead (2014) for violin and 2 kick drums
& more music by Missy Mazzoli.
MONICA GERMINO FEATURED IN STRINGS MAGAZINE
Strings Magazine: "5 Minutes With..." Monica Germino
MONICA GERMINO FEATURED IN SEPTEMBER 2014 EDITION OF STRINGS MAGAZINE
Behind the scenes: Monica talks about her work with sound designer Frank van der Weij, La Girò, and the concerts in the Washington, D.C. area Festival.
"Whether she was playing the violin, electric violin, adapted violin, whispering, talking, or singing, Germino conveyed her passion with tour de force virtuosity and burning vulnerability."
"Violinist Monica Germino put her stamp on the Andriessen at 75 festival in and around Washington, DC, earlier this year with a violin concerto named after Vivaldi’s muse... and a violin recital in a charged environment of electronics, art installations, and images with punk-rock bassist/ turned-sound-designer Frank van der Weij. Armed with a Joannes Baptista Ceruti (Cremona, 1802), on permanent loan from the Elise Mathilde Foundation, and a custom-made electric “violectra,” the Amsterdam-based American/Dutch musician played a major role..." READ MORE
—Laurence Vittes
Subscribers can click here to read the digital edition.
WQXR Radio, Q2 Music: Roadmaps & Diaries II
Roadmaps and Diaries II: Monica Germino, violin/voice, Frank van der Weij, sound design
LISTEN HERE: On-Demand Audio: 'Andriessen 75' Pushes the Violin Envelope
RECORDED LIVE AT ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER ON APRIL 7, 2014
New York Public Radio/WQXR; produced by Alex Ambrose for Q2
Tuesday, July 8 at 11 am ET, Phil Kline continues his presentation of the "Andriessen 75" festival in Washington, D.C. with a concert titled "Roadmaps and Diaries II." The performance features solo violin music that blurs the line between the acoustic and electric featuring works by Louis Andriessen and kindred spirits – including a few former students – Julia Wolfe, Kate Moore, Michael Gordon and Donnacha Dennehy. The program was performed by Monica Germino and sound-designed by Frank van der Weij.
Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's Overstrung for violin and tape opened the program. Written specifically for Germino, the music is built largely on the overtone series and harmonics. Next came the world premiere of Dolorosa, a song for violin and augmented voice by Australian composer Kate Moore. The American premiere of with a blue dress on by Bang on a Can's Julia Wolfe came next, followed by Andriessen's piece Xenia, a wailing, pitch-bending work with a voice part. The performance closed with Michael Gordon's overdriven Industry originally written for amplified cello, a work that seems to distort and warp as it happens.
Part of Classical 105.9 WQXR, Q2 Music is a New York-based online station devoted to the music of living composers; a home for immersive festivals, live webcasts and on-demand concerts from today’s leading new-music performers and venues, and is programmed by Q2 Music's Producer, Alex Ambrose. Visit Q2 Music
De Link
photo: Monica and Frank van der Weij in the studio. Photographer: Elisabeth Melchior
Monica Germino, violin/voice, Frank van der Weij, sound design
music by Donnacha Dennehy, Louis Andriessen, Julia Wolfe
Series: DE LINK in Het Cenakel
Double bill with percussionist Ramon Lormans
Presented by a great advocate of new music in the Netherlands: De Link
Venue: Het Cenakel, Tilburg (NL)
SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL: Best Musical Events of 2013
photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times
Our Reviewers’ Choices for Best Musical Events of 2013
Monica Germino and Frank van der Weij in SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL's top picks for 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 (June 13)."
-Bruce Hodges
The show included US premieres by David Dramm, Karlheinz Essl, Annie Gosfied, and Arnoud Noordegraaf, plus works by Louis Andriessen and Donnacha Dennehy. The composers introduced their pieces in short video clips.
Click here to read more about the top 2013 choices!
& check out Bruce Hodge's complete review of the show in the September issue of The Strad magazine
The Strad: 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"
