violin

Violinist Monica Germino (USA/The Netherlands) is on the cutting edge of new music. Hailed by The Sunday Times (UK) as a "striking presence" whose "virtuosity was exhilarating," she has premiered innovative works in such venues as Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Centre, Berliner Festspiele, Alice Tully Hall, Mass MoCA, Le Poisson Rouge, Lincoln Center, Queensland Biennial Festival, Holland Festival and Concertgebouw Amsterdam. She performs often as a soloist and chamber musician with London Sinfonietta, Asko|Schönberg Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Orkest de Volharding, MusikFabrik, Remix and Oslo Sinfonietta. Monica is co-founder of the international four-member ensemble ELECTRA, which commissions composers from all over the world. She has recorded for  Attacca Records, Basta Music and BMOP, as well as numerous discs with the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble for Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch and Philips.

On a quest to redefine her instrument's boundaries, Monica has created innovative programmes with a constantly expanding, eclectic repertoire, commissioning and performing many works written for her by today's leading composers. She has collaborated with composers Louis Andriessen, Martin Bresnick, John Cage, Alvin Curran, Michael Daugherty, Heiner Goebbels, Michael Gordon, György Ligeti, Jacob TV, Christian Wolff and Julia Wolfe, among many others. Since 2003, when she acquired a custom made 'Violectra,' she has been exploring the limitless possibilities for the electric violin. The Observer (UK) praised 'the dazzling violinist Monica Germino' for her performances of new works combining singing and playing, a skill she developed in recent years. Together with sound engineer Frank van der Weij, she has conceived and produced multimedia programmes, revolutionizing the concept of a solo violin recital by transforming sound, executing unconventional feats and exploiting new technologies. A versatile artist, Monica has performed with Europe’s leading dance and theatre companies, and broken barriers in exciting collaborations with choreographer Nanine Linning, singer Cristina Zavalloni, pianist Tomoko Mukaiyama and many others.

Monica holds diplomas with honours from New England Conservatory and Yale University, studying with James Buswell and Syoko Aki. She won the Charles Ives Scholarship, Yale Alumni Association Prize, and a Frank Huntington Beebe Grant for study with Vera Beths at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, and is now based in Amsterdam. Monica plays a Joannes Baptista Ceruti violin (Cremona, 1802), on permanent loan from the Elise Mathilde Foundation.

Performances

Fromm Players at Harvard
John Knowles Paine Hall at Harvard University | March 23, 2007
Concert Details

News and Press

[CD Review] Andriessen: at seventy, a composer finds new muses

Composer Louis Andriessen turns seventy this year. In a disc celebrating the composer’s septuagenarian status with a quartet of recent works, the Boston Modern Orchestra project, conducted by Gil Rose, suggests that several through-lines between established tendencies and new collaborators have kept the Dutch composer’s work fresh, vibrant, and engaging.

Sequenza21 Full review
[CD Review] American Record Guide reviews Louis Andriessen: La Passione

Cristina Zavalloni is a mezzo with backgrounds in both jazz and classical music, whose work is particularly beloved of Louis Andriessen. She is the main protagonist for three of the four works here.

American Record Guide Full review
[CD Review] Spirited and pliable performances of subtle, emotive European minimalism

In his book The Rest is Noise, Alex Ross calls Louis Andriessen “the only major European minimalist.” You wouldn’t know that from the four works on this disc. True, there’s repetition, but not in the Glass/Riley/Reich sense of the word. Scored for percussion and three keyboards, the opening work, Bells for Haarlem, is built from long sustained chords that strike at unpredictable intervals, with a subtle melody taking shape as the piece progresses.

Gramophone Full review
[News Coverage] Spinning Local: A batch of new CDs from BMOP

Meanwhile the city’s other homegrown label, BMOP/sound, continues to impress. This scrappy in-house operation run by conductor Gil Rose and his Boston Modern Orchestra Project was launched early last year, and it has released a steady stream of impeccably produced, beautifully packaged discs with exacting and engaged performances of 20th- and 21st-century music. Several elegantly probing pieces by Brandeis-based composer David Rakowski were recently featured on a BMOP/sound disc called Winged Contraption, including his Piano Concerto in a strong performance by Marilyn Nonken.

The Boston Globe Full review
[Press Release] The Boston Modern Orchestra Project performs in 2007 Fromm Players at Harvard Festival

Presented by Harvard University's Department of Music, this year's "Fromm Players at Harvard" music series features works of five composers to be performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the nation's only orchestra dedicated to performing, commissioning, and recording new music of the 21st century. Curated by British composer and Harvard faculty member Julian Anderson, the 2007 Fromm Festival takes places Thursday, March 22nd, and Friday, March 23rd @ 8:00pm, in the John Knowles Paine Concert Hall at Harvard University (Oxford Street, Cambridge).

Full review