to be two — violin and viola (2021)
Commissioned by Melia Watras with funding from the Adelaide D. Currie Cole Endowed Professorship at the University of Washington. duration 5’
to be two by Leilehua Lanzilotti performed by Melia Watras (viola) and Michael Jinsoo Lim (violin). Film by Gahlord Dewald.
to be two was written for Melia Watras and her husband, violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim, and takes its title from the book by philosopher/linguist Luce Irigaray. Excerpts from the following passage by Irigaray are woven into the score:
Thanks to perception, we can become, the one for the other, a bridge towards a becoming which is yours, mine, and ours. I can be a bridge for you, as you can be one for me. This bridge can never become the property of either. The bridge which I am for you will never be mine or “to me.” I perceive you, I create an idea of you, I preserve you in my memory—in affect, in thought—in order to assist you in your becoming. While I become me, I remember you. (p. 43)
Aside from general timbre shifts, shaping of the simple melody is left to be found together, “the one for the other.”
Past Performances
Sunday, November 24, 2024 — Dinosaur Annex (Lilit Hartunian, violin; and Anne Black, viola) performs two be two, 50th Anniversary Season opening concert, Allen Center, Newton, MA
Saturday, March 9, 2024 — Charlotte Munn-Wood (violin) and Michela Christianson (viola), Larchmont Music Academy Faculty Recital, Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
Friday, February 23, 2024 — Melia Watras (viola) and Michael Jinsoo Lim (violin), Brechemin Auditorium at the University of Washington, WA
Tuesday, August 22, 2023 — Aperture Duo, Lyric Hyperion, Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 — Melia Watras (viola) and Michael Jinsoo Lim (violin), Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, IN
Thursday, May 26, 2022 — Melia Watras (viola) and Michael Jinsoo Lim (violin), Wayward Music Series, Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, WA
Monday, April 11, 2022 — Melia Watras (viola) and Michael Jinsoo Lim (violin), Gerlich Theater in Meany Hall at the University of Washington, WA