Cellist Clare Monfredo performs Caroline Shaw’s ‘In Manus Tuas’

Clare Monfredo performs In Manus Tuas - a work for solo cello (and voice) by US-composer, vocalist, violinist and producer Caroline Shaw.

Monfredo tells The Strad, ’Shaw’s In Manus Tuas is a piece that explores the edges of sound — the emergence of sound from silence, the transition from noise to pitch, and the human voice arising and gradually overtaking the cello. I especially love playing this piece in resonant spaces like this that showcase and amplify the subtleties of these edges.’

She continues, ’Performing In Manus Tuas, I also feel a special connection with the audience. Since the piece requires me to guide the sound from one colour to another, I experience the result of playing — the sound itself — as much as the physical process of playing. After not having live in-person audiences for so long, playing this piece this past June was really powerful to me.’

The performance was filmed earlier this year as part of The Townhouse Series, presented by The Frederick R. Koch Foundation, in the foundation’s historic Upper East Side townhouse in New York City. The concerts are curated by Daniel Schlosberg, who also performs in many of the programmes, and produced and directed by ffflypaper.

Monfredo is a New York City-based cellist currently pursuing her DMA at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she is the recipient of the five-year graduate fellowship. She studied in Leipzig, Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship with cellist Peter Bruns, and also holds a bachelor of arts in English from Yale University, as well as a masters of music degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. She has appeared in numerous festivals including  Chamber Music Northwest, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, and Music Academy of the West.