Doors: 7:30pm
Music: 8pm

Purchase tickets here.

Stephen Marotto, Freya Downey, and Aaron Michael Smith present three pieces for strings and electronic sounds by composers exploring the paradoxical, the textural, and music’s uncanny ability to plumb the depths of inarticulability. All three pieces explore extended definitions of what one might recognize as harmony as well as new explorations of rhythm and how one could perceive beats and repetition. Utilizing the full range of the viola and the cello, the performers, with near-childlike curiosity, find ways to integrate their sounds and to bring noise and the repulsive into the realm of the vulnerable and the pleasurable.

Compositions:

James Tenney’s Two Koans and a Canon for viola with tape-delay system (arr. for cello) (1992)
Stephen Marotto (cello)

Lea Bertucci’s The Cepheid Variations for cello, viola, and electronics (2015)
Stephen Marotto (cello) and Aaron Michael Smith (viola)

Aaron Michael Smith’s a tendency to fill for two amplified violas, wooden dowels & electronics (2026)
Freya Downey (viola) and Aaron Michael Smith (viola)

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Stephen Marotto, Violoncello. A native of Norwalk, Connecticut, Stephen has received a Bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Connecticut, a Master’s degree from Boston University, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at BU under the direction of Michael Reynolds. Stephen’s formative teachers include Kangho Lee, Marc Johnson, and Rhonda Rider. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Stephen is a member of the contemporary sinfonietta Sound Icon and performs regularly with new music ensembles such as Callithumpian Consort and Guerilla Opera. He performs frequently throughout Boston and across the greater New England region. Stephen has attended music festivals at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, SoundSCAPE in Maccagno, Italy, and the Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany. Stephen has also played in master classes for artists such as the Arditti Quartet and JACK Quartet. Stephen has a wide range of musical interest that include contemporary chamber music, improvisatory music, and electronic music. Stephen has commissioned several new works for the instrument and is very interested in expanding the tonal palette of the cello both with and without technology. He has premiered new works for cello and electronics by composers such as Per Bloland, Kerrith Livengood, and Brian Riordan. He has also given U.S. premiers of solo works by Klaus Lang and Sarah Nemtsov. Stephen was a featured solo performer at the SEAMUS National Conference in both 2022 and 2026. Stephen is also the Director of Strings for the Summer Institute for Contemporary Music formerly held at New England Conservatory. Stephen recorded the complete works of Morton Feldman for cello and piano for Mode Records and can also be heard on New Focus Recordings. In his spare time, Stephen is an avid hiker, paddler, and outdoorsman. Stephen hopes to visit all 63 U.S. National Parks and climb all 50 state highpoints in his lifetime.

Freya Downey, violist, advocates for mindfulness, accessibility, and creativity in classical music through classical performance, improvisation, and composition. Her most recent performances include a solo recital entitled “All is Well,” a faculty recital at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and solo improvisations at the Transporter Series in Boston, MA. Freya was awarded the Graduate Arts Research Grant from the Boston University Arts Initiative for her composition, Presence in Sound, a Deep Listening and improvisation-based viola concerto, intended to invite musicians and audience members alike to engage in listening as a form of creativity. Her work as a soloist was featured in Project Pause: 4 recitals in 8 months, founded in Oklahoma, to explore connective performances and expand awareness of her instrument as a soloist voice in a format that is welcoming and accessible for all. As a chamber musician, she has appeared at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall alongside the Fest Quartet as the winner of Baylor University’s Semper Pro Musica Chamber Music Competition. Additionally, she was also the founding violist of the Claeys Undergraduate String Quartet at the University of Oklahoma. Freya is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in Viola Performance at Boston University and holds degrees from Baylor University and the University of Oklahoma. Her primary instructors include Michelle LaCourse, Kathryn Steely, and Mark Neumann. In her free time, Freya enjoys painting, reading, fiber arts, and spending time with her dog. 

Aaron Michael Smith is a composer, violist and artist currently based in Boston, MA. Aaron is interested in exploring the way that various practices and mediums overlap, reflect and contradict one another. He is often engaged in collaborations with filmmakers, visual artists, philosophers, poets and other musicians. A large part of his practice since 2012 has been making experimental films which have gone on to be featured at numerous international film festivals. In 2023, Aaron did the music for their first feature-length film, Playland, which premiered internationally at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and nationally at the Tribeca Festival. Aaron is a co-curator, along with Jordan Kokot, of field|guide, a collaborative multimedia art book project. Aaron is one third of grein, an experimental improv trio, with Jay Rauch and Jonathan Rodriguez, with one release on Dinzu Artefacts. In 2024 Aaron co-founded a music series/experimental curation space called TRANSPORTER with Jessica Hernandez, hosted at Boston Cyberarts Gallery in Jamaica Plain. They throw shows, host experiments and workshops, and foster community. Aaron completed a Master’s in music composition at Boston University with Joshua Fineberg and Rodney Lister. Previously he graduated from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, receiving degrees in music composition and viola performance, including a minor in electronic music. He is currently on the composition faculty at New England Conservatory for their Extended Education and Preparatory Schools, and teaches violin, viola and composition privately.