Composer-improviser-cellist Frances-Marie Uitti is renowned the world over for her interpretations of contemporary music and is famous for her extended technique using two bows simultaneously in one hand as well as her improvisational skills. This technique expands the harmonic and timbric possibilities of the instrument in revolutionary ways: for example one can play simultaneously 4, 3, 2, and 1 string, with contrasting articulations between the two bows. Non-adjacent strings can also be accessed. One bow can be played near the bridge while the other is near the fingerboard. Frances-Marie Uitti has used over 75 different tunings in her compositions using this technique, each producing new harmonic possibilities and exotic timbres. She was the first to combine singing with the cello and Louis Andriessen's masterpiece La Voce is dedicated to her.
She travels worldwide playing concerts from New York to Mongolia and is regularly seen in the largest festivals in Europe and abroad.
She is finishing a massive book on New Cello Techniques covering music from 1915 Kodaly Sonata, to the present day.
She has collaborated with and is the dedicatee of composers Luigi Nono, Louis Andriessen, James Tenney, Jonathan Harvey , John Cage, Giacinto Scelsi, Elliott Sharp, György Kurtág, double bassist Mark Dresser and Fernando Grillo and has recorded on ECM records Wergo Hat Hut Records , CRI, and BvHaast.
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