Monica Germino (born 1974) is an American and Dutch violinist. Germino spent her early years in Virginia, US. She is a graduate of

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

and the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

. In 1993 she received a grant to study music in The Netherlands. Germino resides in The Netherlands. Monica Germino has performed at the

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (also known by the acronym HCMF, stylised since 2006 as the lowercase hcmf//) is a new music festival held annually in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since its foundation in 1978, it has featu ...

(UK),

Bang on a Can Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted contemporary classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. Called "the c ...

Marathon (NY),

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

(USF), at New York's Austrian Cultural Forum and the

Walt Disney Concert Hall The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 23, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Av ...

. Germino collaborates with "electronic sound designer" Frank van der Weij. Germino and Van der Weij have commissioned new works for violinist and sound designer from

Julia Wolfe Julia Wolfe (born December 18, 1958) is an American composer and professor of music at New York University. According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', Wolfe's music has "long inhabited a terrain of its own, a place where classical forms are rech ...

Donnacha Dennehy Donnacha Dennehy (born 17 August 1970) is an Irish composer and leader of the Crash Ensemble specializing in contemporary classical music. According to musicologist Bob Gilmore, Dennehy's "high profile of his compositions internationally, togeth ...

, David Dramm, Arnoud Noordegraaf, Heiner Goebbels, Catherine Kontz, and Nick Williams. Germino commissioned a Violectra (electric violin) in 2003. Among the pieces written for her on this instrument include composer Robert Zuidam's new Requiem (2013), Renske Vrolijk's 'Violectra Concerto' (2012), and David Dramm's 'Fuzzbox Logic' (2010). She also performs with her group ELECTRA and the band Electric Barbarian. Germino frequently collaborates with the Dutch composer

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

and the singer Cristina Zavalloni. In 2011, Andriessen composed a violin concerto for her, titled 'La Girò'. In 2002, Andriessen composed 'La Passione', a double concerto for Zavalloni and Germino. In 2009, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project brought out a CD of Andriessen's work, titled 'La Passione'. The title work and 'Passeggiata in Tram in America e Ritorno' are both settings of Dino Campana's poetry. Both works were composed for Zavalloni and Germino. Her performance of

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

's Six Melodies played an inspirational role in Andriessen's opera "Writing to Vermeer." Germino plays a Joannes Baptista Ceruti violin on permanent loan from the Elise Mathilde Foundation. Germino also sings and plays simultaneously and she plays with the

curved bow The curved bow for string instruments enables string players to control the tension of the bow hair in order to play one, two, three and four strings simultaneously and to change easily among these possibilities. The high arch of the bow allows f ...

. She was married to composer

from 2012 until his death in 2021.

References

External links

*
Bio at Muziekencyclopedie (NL)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Germino, Monica Living people Dutch classical violinists American classical violinists Dutch women violinists American women violinists 21st-century classical violinists 1974 births