“Voices of the Violin” is a cycle of new solo pieces. Rather than showing the personality of the performer
or composer, these works aim to show how the personality of a violin shapes the way we experience
music – to show what the instrument has to say for itself.
The project grew out of my own search for a violin. In 2021, I had to look for a new instrument. I tried
over 80 different violins, each with a unique personality which influenced my playing. The way I
approached a piece of music could change drastically with each instrument. The pieces of “Voices of the
Violin” draw from this experience, exploring how violin and violinist connect, and how we work together
to create one musical voice.

After almost two years of searching, I found a violin made by Anselmo Bellosio, now generously loaned
to me by the Karel Appel Estate. In an odd quirk of history, the label of the violin says that it was made in 1773.

If the label tells the truth, it means that these new pieces also celebrate the 250th birthday of the Bellosio violin itself.

Throughout my search I worked and reflected with composers and colleagues. This became central to
“Voices”, and to the new pieces. These pieces have challenged me to use every limit of my own
technique, and work with composers to find new techniques and sounds which I didn’t even know existed
on the violin. Some new techniques are easy to spot, such as when I hold the violin in my lap (in Alice
Yeung’s piece), or play it with a chopstick (in Jasper de Bock’s piece). Others are more subtle, but have
still resulted in new sounds and notations. After 35 years of playing the violin, I knew that there is always
more one can do with the instrument. But this project showed me that there are still many unexplored
possibilities of expression on this 250 year old wooden box.

The new pieces:
Martijn Padding – 26 Seconds
Silvia Borzelli – presto continuo
Samuel Carl Adams – The Last Sound of Venice
Helena Winkelman – Lady in a Shell (with a bell), from Capriccios for solo violin
Kate Moore – E is for Elijah
Marton Illes – Én-Kör IV
Robin de Raaff – Encore II
Jan van de Putte – and then my song started dreaming
Juerg Frey – Wind, inside the sound
Jasper de Bock – 1001 Stokslagen
Alice Yeung – Posturizor
Livia Malossi Bottignole – Hummingbird Pulse
Arieh Chrem – Comfort, for Joe

VOICES OF THE VIOLIN