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Afes (2021)

For amplified violin

The work “Afes”, Greek for touches, explores particularly fine and fragile timbral gradations that result from different nuances of touch. Throughout the work, aspects of the instrument’s tactility that are usually submerged in the normal mode of playing are given protagonistic roles: the sounds of the left hand against the fingerboard, nuances of different pressure, and the drawing of the bow hair and stick against different parts of the instrument’s body are ever-present. In this respect, “Afes” reverses the normal hierarchies of violin sound production, highlighting esoteric aspects of the physicality of playing and inventing a new mode of viscerality in engaging with the instrument.

Afes was commissioned by Tania Sikelianou, who premiered the first movement of this work was premiered at the Athens Conservatory on December 11, 2021. Violinist Gabriela Diaz premiered the full work on February 22, 2024.

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February 22, 2024 | Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA. Gabriela Diaz.