Program notes:

fate(un)strung is a work for violin, viola, re-embodied cello, and electronics. The piece for two performers is fundamentally a violin and viola duo in which the space of the duo is expanded—and perhaps questioned—by the presence of a cello, without a cellist on stage to perform it. Thus, the cello may become a sounding object divorced from a physical action: a passive agent of diffusion, projecting electronic sounds, pre-recorded cello instrumental gestures, as well as amplifying and altering the sound of the duo on stage. However, as a functioning musical instrument, the cello is also performed by both musicians. The instrument is incorporated into the duo’s common space of action, as well as inhabiting a virtual space of extension of the bodies on stage. There is another dimension of interaction between the performers and the different materials/objects used in sound production, having the act of bowing as a fundamental unifier in sound and in action. The main narrative becomes the contrast in activity along with the inquiry of what instruments are and how to perform them—the breaking of a continuity that is trying to sustain itself or the “fate” of an instrument’s design and its inherent materials. The cello is re-embodied by itself and by others—sounds and bodies—occupying different spaces, inhabiting different temporal points.