{"id":21593,"date":"2026-03-20T11:23:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sienajazz.it\/?post_type=university&p=21593"},"modified":"2026-04-13T19:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:20:17","slug":"agnese-amico","status":"publish","type":"university","link":"https:\/\/www.sienajazz.it\/en\/university\/agnese-amico\/","title":{"rendered":"Agnese Amico"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Agnese Amico<\/h3>\n\n\n\n


Stringspell. Between classical inheritance and improvisation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Stringspell. Between classical inheritance and improvisation\u2019 is an artistic research project that merges artistic practice, qualitative research methodologies and critical analysis in a project concerned with improvisation for strings, in particular for violin and the string quartet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research grounds itself on two premises: first, the acknowledgment of a classical inheritance that permeates violinists education, practice and performance. Second, a compelling need in my practice – as a violinist performing in classical, contemporary and improvisational realms – to better understand how the classical inheritance and practice can be valuable for improvisation rather than an obstacle.
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Using the above mentioned methods, my research explores the possibility of shared perspectives between classical and improvisational performance, nurtured by a constant back and forth interaction between these two practices that unlock spaces of experimentation. By critical reading of performance studies (de Assis, Ostersjo\u2026) and of more specific documents about performance with the violin and the string quartet I identify different spaces of experimentation triggered by the feedback loops between classical and improvisational practices. At the core of these spaces of experimentation lies a profound willingness to reshape thoughts and practices around the violin and string quartet.
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One method in the research into these spaces of experimentation is interviewing string players who use improvisation as an artistic practice and have a classical background. The interviews not only unfold the personal artistic journeys and a variety of different practices and insights of the string musicians involved, but also highlight the many common aspects between them which are further developed in those spaces of experimentation.
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This theoretical framework is applied in my artistic practice, where I explore the same feedback loop between classical and improvisational practices with my playing. My playing is not confined strictly to those two practices but also includes the performance of contemporary works and the use of traditional stylistic features, which act as important triggers for different performative and reflective considerations. The contemporary works are particularly explored with the contemporary string quartet Quartetto Obliquo, while the traditional stylistic features are in this case explored by playing the hardanger fiddle, a Norwegian traditional violin, which roots me in some ways to my origins. An important part of the artistic outputs will be contained in two records, the first for solo violin, the second with Quartetto Obliquo string quartet. The quartet\u2019s collaboration with two composers, John King and Gavin Bryars, bring these two artists\u2019 different ways of entangling improvisation in their respective work to the project, offering yet another layer to the research. I document the process of development of these two works and report how they get affected by the daily work and practice, interacting with different contexts, sources, documents, recordings, and performative options.
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This research will open up possibilities and speculations, upon the spaces of exploration string players, in particular, enter when moving between the classical tradition and different forms of improvisation, trying to answer the following research questions: How can my and other string players\u2019 embodied classical techniques be rethought in the improvisational realm? What are the sense and sensibilities towards ideals of sound and expression in traditional classical practise and improvisation practices encountered in this project – and how do they relate? What are the different perceptions of the violin in different realms? How does the string quartet, with its strong ties to the classical tradition, come to explore improvisation as a practice of common artistic values? What is Stringspell – the ancient spell cast by the fiddler at the villages\u2019 dance and by the romantic virtuoso violinist enchanting the audience in the past – if projected into the contemporary realm?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

agneseamico@sienajazz.it<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

photo credits: Mirko Silvestrini<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-21593","university","type-university","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAgnese Amico - Siena Jazz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sienajazz.it\/en\/university\/agnese-amico\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Agnese Amico - Siena Jazz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Agnese Amico Stringspell. Between classical inheritance and improvisation \u2018Stringspell. Between classical inheritance and improvisation\u2019 is an artistic research project that merges artistic practice, qualitative research methodologies and critical analysis in a project concerned with improvisation for strings, in particular for violin and the string quartet. 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