photo by ebbe roe yovino-smith
Solo
As a solo performer, Theresa Wong illuminates the vast sonorities of the cello and voice, unearthing raw vibrations in tonal, percussive and textural terrains. Her work draws upon the question: "how can I rediscover the core of the cello as wood and string and hair, or even simply as a tree?" Combining composition and improvisation, her solo performances draw upon the primal sentience of the natural world and sensations of genetic sonic memory. The cello is centered around a lower A 216 Hz and in scordatura, allowing for harmonic explorations in just intonation, a tuning system based on the natural overtones of resonating frequencies. Through amplification, Wong reveals the microcosms of the cello and voice as expansive fields of possibility. Her solo performances have been presented at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco, Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, San Francisco Asian Art Museum, Echoraum in Vienna, Cafe Oto in London, and Fondation Cartier in Paris.
Recent solo works include Journey to the Cave of Guanyin, for solo and multi-tracked cello, Fluency of Trees, which premiered at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco in 2022, and Practicing Sands, an album of pieces for solo cello and voice out on fo’c’sle.
“…at once transcendent and firmly rooted to the sensuous earth.”
“...coaxing notes from the cello that ripple like waves on a dark sea.”
“Wong’s cello resonated into a dizzying array of partials, emerging from low string drones and dancing across the hall like tenuous will-o’-the-wisps.”