Martin Iddon - Cherry Ripe, for viola(s) and electronics (2025, world premiere) Scott McLaughlin - there is no gap between bird and song, viola d’amore instance (2025, world premiere)
Scott McLaughlin there is no gap between bird and song and Martin Iddon’s Cherry Ripe set string instruments in contrasting relationships with its sounding environment. Written for Marco Fusi, both works emerge from his practice on the instrument as not merely a means of realising musical ideas, but as an agent in their creation.
In McLaughlin’s work, Fusi prepares his viola d'amore by inserting small metal rings in between an ad-hoc set of strings. The physical instability produced by this preparation is essential: sounds are accessed through dialogue between bow, string, preparation and resonance, and each instantiation of the piece maps unique territory through the setup. Rather than forcing the instrument into any predetermined results, the performer must listen and react to the range of possibilities offered by the instrument itself.
Cherry Ripe, a piece for viola and fixed media, turns outward to engage another unstable signal. Iddon incorporates recordings of Cold War-era number stations—shortwave broadcasts associated with espionage activity—mixing these haunted voices and radio transmissions with live and processed viola. The title of the piece references one such station, which was known as “Cherry Ripe”.
In both works, Fusi becomes less a conduit for interpreted objects, and more a listener and negotiator: testing materials and responding to their unique histories and behaviours as they shift and reshape the piece before performance.
Marco Fusi is a violinist/violist, a researcher in music performance, and a passionate advocate for the music of our time.
Among many collaborations with emerging and established composers, he has premiered works by Jessie Marino, Tim McCormack, Yu Kuwabara, Evan Johnson and Kristine Tjøgersen, among others. Marco has performed with Pierre Boulez, Elena Schwarz, Lorin Maazel, Susanna Mälkki, Alan Gilbert, and frequently plays with leading contemporary ensembles including Klangforum Wien, MusikFabrik, Meitar Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, Ensemble Linea. He has recorded several solo albums, published by Kairos, Stradivarius, Col Legno, Da Vinci, Geiger Grammofon, New Focus Recordings. Marco also plays viola d’amore, commissioning new pieces and collaborating with composers to promote and expand existing repertoire for the instrument.
After his Masters in Violin and Composition at the Conservatory of Milan, Marco received his PhD from the University of Antwerp / docARTES program with a dissertation on the performance practice of Giacinto Scelsi’s works for string instruments.
He is currently Assistant Professor of Artistic Research at HEMU Lausanne and Associate Researcher at the Orpheus Instituut of Gent.
