Judith Hamann performs their Humming Suite, a concert-length program focused on cello and voice in different permutations, alongside companion pieces that explore similar musical territories.

“Humming traces a particular kind of interiority,” says Judith. “There is an intimacy and vulnerability in a close-mouthed hum that teeters on the edge of audibility.”

In performance, bow stroke and breath often break, disturb, and interfere as much as they meld together. And it is not always clear where sounds are coming from, suggesting something like a form of ventriloquism. The outcome is a collection of works of delicate balance and volatile fragility.

Judith Hamann (b.1983, Melbourne, Australia) is a composer and cellist, currently based in Berlin. Their practice frequently crosses disciplines, incorporating improvisation, field recording, electroacoustic composition, performance, and site-specific response, and is often collaborative in nature. Trained in contemporary classical performance, Hamann challenges the boundaries of their instruments, whether the cello, voice, or body, considering how sonic thresholds offer generative sites of instability and movement. Judith has performed widely, including at Tectonics, Glasgow, Adelaide, Athens; UnSound, New York; Sonic Acts, Amsterdam; Maerzmusik, Berlin; CTM, Berlin; the Venice Biennale Musica; Tokyo Experimental Festival; and Festival Aural, Mexico City. Collaborators include Marja Ahti, Joshua Bonnetta, Pascale Criton, Charles Curtis, Sarah Hennies, Yvette Janine Jackson, and Anike Joyce Sadiq. Judith’s work has been published by Blank Forms, Black Truffle, Another Timbre, and Longform Editions. Judith holds a D.M.A. from the University of California San Diego.

Presented in partnership with the Graham Foundation