Frances Marie Uitti
"I have no goal in music, other than to remain, as much as possible, in its luminosity."
Frances Marie Uitti pioneered a revolutionary direction for the cello by transforming it into a polyphonic instrument capable of sustained chordal (two, three, and four-part) and intricate multivoiced writing. Using two bows in one hand, this invention permits contemporaneous cross accents, multiple timbres, contrasting 4-voiced dynamics, and simultaneous legato-articulated playing that her previous work with a curved bow couldn't attain. Her sound has been called a "transfigured string quartet".
She has performed at Biennale Di Venezia, Strasbourg Festival, Berlin Festial, Holland Festival, Maggio Musicale, Wittenertage, Ars Electronica ... Given master classes at Oberlin College, Yale University, University of California at Berkeley, Darmstadt Fereinkurses, Dartington Institute, and major conservatories throughout Europe ... Her repertoire includes hundreds of works, by Giacinto Scelsi, Iannis Xenakis, John Cage, Morton Feldman ... New works have been dedicated to her by Luigi Nono, Louise Andriessen, Giacinto Scelsi, Jonathan Harvey, John Cage ... She improvises with Elliott Sharp, Mark Dresser, Stephen Vitiello ...
She is currently working on a comprehensive book on contemporary cello techniques, commissioned by the University of California Press. Frances-Marie Uitti lives in Amsterdam and tours extensively.
Available CDs
Photo by Joel Chadabe
