Duo della Luna
Biography Duo della Luna
Duo della Luna
As solo artists, Susan and Airi have devoted their musical careers to new music. After performing together in various chamber settings, Airi commissioned Susan to write a work for just voice and violin, resulting in Botti’s Mangetsu. Realizing that there was a special spark when the music was stripped down to just their two voices intertwined, they formed Duo della Luna to explore this further. The duo has performed in the US, Canada and Italy. Given the unusual vocal/instrumental combination, it was natural that their individual devotion to contemporary works would continue as a duo. Their repertoire celebrates the natural world, myth, story-telling, and folk songs... for their universal, timeless messages.
Susan Botti
Botti's eclectic background and experiences are reflected in her music. Theater and the visual arts play a formative role in the aesthetic of her work. Her musical explorations incorporate traditional, improvisational and non-classical composition and singing styles.
Botti is the recipient of numerous grants, awards, and commissions. In many cases, she is the vocal soloist as well as composer of her works. Collaboration is of special interest – often, her projects evolve from artistic partnerships (including musicians from the NY Philharmonic and The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; soloists such as singer Lucy Shelton; the poet Linda Gregerson; and theater designer, Leslie Taylor).
Duo della Luna is Botti’s recently formed vocal/violin duo with Airi Yoshioka, specializing in the performance of intimate contemporary music and folk song-inspired arrangements and compositions. Advocating education and outreach, the duo is committed to performing in unusual and underserved venues.
In development is a “theatrical motet”, River Spirits, for three voices and an ensemble of contemporary plus early music instruments – a futuristic abstract fable drawing on Italian “grammelot” and wide-ranging vocal techniques. As with most of her work, the piece strives to tap into the pulse of the human experience.
In addition to performing her own vocal works, Botti specializes in the performance of contemporary music of diverse styles. She has worked directly with composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Matthias Pintscher, Paul Chihara, Toshio Hosokawa, Linda Dusman, Eliot Britton, Rahilia Hasanova, Lois V. Vierk, and Wes York. For over a decade, composer/conductor Tan Dun created several major works highlighting her vocal and theatrical talents, including the role of "Water" in his internationally renowned opera, Marco Polo, the vocal solo in his multimedia work for soprano and orchestra, Orchestral Theatre III: Red Forecast, and the vocal solo for the theme to his soundtrack for The Banquet.
