Violinist Olivia De Prato Releases Debut Solo Album - Streya
Olivia De Prato, co-founder and first violinist of the Mivos Quartet, announces the March 2, 2018 release of her debut solo album, Streya, on New Focus Recordings. A passionate advocate for new music, De Prato chose to record music by six composers with whom she has collaborated closely since moving to New York in 2005: Samson Young, Victor Lowrie, Ned Rothenberg, Taylor Brook, Reiko Füting, and Missy Mazzoli.
De Prato says of the composers on the new album, “I would describe each of them as a multifaceted artist – each brings a wide range of artistic abilities and perspectives to their work. As performers, improvisers, visual artists, and scholars of non-western musical traditions, the composers on this album represent the richly eclectic variety of influences that fascinate me in new music.”
Three of the works were written in 2016 specifically for the album – Ned Rothenberg’s Percorso insolito, Victor Lowrie’s Streya, and Taylor Brook’s Wane – while Reiko Futing's tanz.tanz (2010) and Samson Young's Ageha.Tokyo (2008) have been prominent in De Prato’s solo repertoire. Missy Mazzoli's Vespers (2014) is a new version for violin and electronics from the original work written for Victoire, and a music video for the track was created by James Darrah.
Streya adds to De Prato’s ensemble recordings on labels including Tzadik, New Amsterdam Records, New Focus Recordings, Sunnyside Records, Mode, Cantaloupe, Porter Records, and Harmonia Mundi. Her playing has been described as “flamboyant...convincing” by The New York Times, and Messaggero Veneto calls her an, “enchanting violinist.” She has performed at the Bang on a Can Marathon, the Lucerne Festival with Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble Modern Festival, the Wien Modern Festival, the Shanghai New Music Week, and Lincoln Center Festival with Steve Reich and Brad Lubman.
Of the music on the album, De Prato writes, “Füting takes his inspiration from an in-depth analysis of Bach’s Chaconne and the title of a Murakami novel in his piece tanz.tanz. In Percorso insolito, Rothenberg threads a fine line between fixed composition and improvisation, evoking the Japanese shakuhachi honkyoku solo music he has studied for years. Brook incorporates microtonality and multi-tracking in Wane as a means of transforming the harmonic palette of the solo instrument. Mazzoli’s Vespers is a distorted secular take on the traditional Vespers prayer service, while Young’s Ageha.Tokyo seamlessly embeds the violin into an audiovisual landscape. Lowrie’s new work Streya originates directly from his experiences as an avid performer, moving between moments of musical repose and angular melodic lines.”
Streya | New Focus Recordings | Release date: March 2, 2018
Olivia De Prato, violin
Samson Young: Ageha.Tokyo (2008) for violin, electronics and video 5:09
Victor Lowrie: Streya (2016) 8:41
Ned Rothenberg: Percorso insolito (2016) for violin solo 7:08
Taylor Brook: Wane (2016) for violin and multitrack electronics 10:01
Reiko Füting: tanz.tanz (2010) for violin solo 8:53
Missy Mazzoli: Vespers (2014) for violin and electronics 5:13
About Olivia De Prato
Internationally recognized as a soloist and chamber musician, Austro-Italian violinist Olivia De Prato has been described as “flamboyant...convincing” (The New York Times) and an “enchanting violinist” (Messaggero Veneto, Italy). After moving to New York City, she quickly established herself as a passionate performer of contemporary and improvised music, breaking boundaries of the traditional violin repertoire, and regularly performs in Europe, South America, China, and the United States.
Her chamber music activities include appearances the Bang on a Can Marathon in NYC, the Lucerne Festival with Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble Modern Festival, June in Buffalo, the Wien Modern Festival, the Shanghai New Music Week, and Lincoln Center Festival with Steve Reich and Brad Lubman. In 2010 and 2011 she toured Europe and South Africa with Grammy-award winner Esperanza Spalding and the Chamber Music Society ensemble on violin and viola.
De Prato is a member of the new music ensembles Signal and Victoire and is the co-founder and first violinist of the Mivos Quartet, which focuses on the performance of contemporary string quartets.
As a guest artist, she has presented solo and chamber music masterclasses for young musicians and composers at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, UC San Diego, Princeton University, New York University, University of Nevada Las Vegas, and internationally at Universidad Eafit (Colombia), Shanghai Conservatory (China), Universidad Salvador (Brazil), Yong Siew Toh Conservatory (Singapore), and MIAM University (Turkey).
De Prato has collaborated closely with composers Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Pierre Boulez, Anthony Braxton, Chaya Czernowin, Peter Eötvös, Luca Francesconi, Beat Furrer, Dai Fujikura, Michael Gordon, Helmut Lachenman, David Lang, Brad Lubman, Philippe Manoury, Benedict Mason, Meredith Monk, Krystof Penderecki, Bernard Rands, Steve Reich, Ned Rothenberg, Julia Wolfe, and Georg Friedrich Haas. At the Lucerne Festival Academy 2007 she worked with composer Peter Eötvös on his new Violin Concerto "Seven" conducted by Pierre Boulez.
Her discography includes recordings on Tzadik, New Amsterdam Records, Sunnyside Records, New Focus Recordings, Mode, Cantaloupe, Porter Records, and Harmonia Mundi. She also self-released a live recording of Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto with the Filarmonica de Staat Sibiu (Romania).
Olivia De Prato studied at the University of Music and Arts in Vienna and received her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the Eastman School of Music. She received her Master of Music as a member of the first graduating class from the Contemporary Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music.