*** POSTPONED *** The Mystics

PLEASE NOTE: Due to logistical reasons, this concert had been postponed to December 16.

Composer and cello-innovator Frances-Marie Uitti is Artist in Residence for a year in Splendor, and invites yet another exciting guest in her series of unconventional duo concerts. Together with pianist Rolf Hind, she presents an evening of contemplative music for piano and cello, revolving around the traditional sound world of Bhutan. Frances-Marie is founder and chair of the Bhutan Music Foundation, which aims at the creation and promotion of musical activities and education in (and of) Bhutan, with an emphasis on the traditional Bhutanese cultural heritage. The organisation emerged from Frances-Marie's love for this small, magical country in the high Hamalaya mountains.
In collaboration with the Bhutan Music Foundation and the Guildhall School of Music in London, Frances-Marie and Rolf Hind – who had been making music together for years already – traveled through Bhutan together, listening to the traditional music and letting their imagination run freely. Inspired by their mutual deep practice and profound love for the Buddhist teachings, they developed a shared sound world which will be reflected in all of this intimate concert's music.

Rolf Hind is a soloist, composer, recording artist, chamber musician, pedagogue, collaborator and concert organisor, who – just like Frances-Marie – has collaborated with the world's most renowned contemporary composers in a wide range of styles: from John Adams and Tan Dun, to Ligeti and Lachenmann; Xenakis and Messiaen, to Simon Holt and Judith Weir. He gave recitals at many of Europe’s leading new music festivals, as well as in classical venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House, and at tours in Korea, Taiwan and Cuba. Rolf has worked with many leading conductors, including Ashkenazy, Knussen, Rattle, David Robertson and Andrew Davis, and has appeared regularly at the BBC Proms and with orchestras and ensembles such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Munich Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, and all the BBC orchestras.
Rolf’s compositions include a piano concerto Maya-Sesha (nominated for a British Composer’s Award) and a concerto for accordion, premiered at London’s Barbican Centre. Much of his music is inspired by India, where he travels regularly, while also drawing on the technical adventurousness of performers including himself.

Frances-Marie Uitti's ceaseless curiosity to conjure ever more possibilities from her cello – for example by playing with two bows, or by inventing entirely new instruments such as the all sensor 12 string double bridged cello – has inspired leading composers such as György Kurtág, Luigi Nono, and Jonathan Harvey to write new music especially for her. She collaborated with legendary artists such as John Cage and Marina Abramović, and was described "arguably the world's most influentially experimental cellist" by The Guardian.
"The spectacularly gifted cellist, Frances-Marie Uitti has made a career out of demolishing musical boundaries. She has developed new techniques (most famously, playing with two bows simultaneously), collaborated with a who's who of contemporary composers, and pushed the cello into realms of unexpected beauty and expression... Uitti showed why she might be the most interesting cellist on the planet."
Washington Post

Frances-Marie Uitti - cello
Rolf Hind - piano