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Embark upon an “arresting … sparse, beautiful” (NPR Classical) sensory journey through form and identity in this Liquid Music | Northrop Series performance. Composer inti figgis-vizueta presents her 2026 debut record “Music for Transitions” with an evening communing the virtuosity of Grammy Award-winning cellist Andrew Yee; the hypnotic luminosity of Germany-based Rothko String Quartet (RSQ) in their Minnesota debut; and the radiant mastery of organist Aaron David Miller on the historic Northrop pipe organ.
This moving, genre-dissolving program opens with “wayra” (wind), a work originally commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, performed by Miller and demonstrating the improvisational flexibility of the Aeolian-Skinner organ. “Music for Transitions,” which will be performed in full at this concert, includes several compositions for Yee and Rothko String Quartet and explores Indigenous heritage and trans identity through organic, ecstatic soundscapes. The title track, originally written for four cellos, premiered in 2020 multitracked entirely by Yee. Recurring themes of land, wind, rivers and cosmology are framed by constant musical transformation throughout.
An “ever-intriguing, rising new music star” (LA Times), whose work brings “a sense of true dramatic stakes” (The New York Times), composer inti figgis-vizueta crafts magically real music through the lens of personal identity. Her compositions braid together a childhood in the immigrant communities and Black-founded Freedom Schools of Washington, D.C. with her direct Andean and Irish heritage, weaving complex historical aesthetics with trans and Indigenous futures.
Top image: Andrew Yee, inti figgis-vizueta and Rothko String Quartet at PODIUM Festival Esslingen. Photo by Diana Lim.
Related Links, Quotes & Reviews
inti figgis-vizueta
“Ever-intriguing, rising new music star.” — Los Angeles Times
“Attractively opens up the transitional space between the material and immaterial.” — The Strad Magazine
“[inti's] music feels sprouted between structures, liberated from certainty and wrought from a language we’d do well to learn.” — The Washington Post
“There continues to be nothing but promise in the emerging inti figgis-vizueta.” — The New York Times
Andrew Yee, cello
“Spellbindingly virtuosic.” — London Telegraph
Rothko String Quartet
“Deeply moving passages of exquisite beauty and powerful outbursts.” — Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“Aesthetically beautiful.” — Pamina Magazine
Aaron David Miller
“Aaron possesses a composer’s insight to understanding music.” — The American Organist Magazine
“Courageous improvisations with flair.” — MPR
“Aaron turned the organ into an audible color wheel as he improvised.” — Los Angeles Times
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Event Information
- Seating: Reserved
- Doors Open: 6:30 p.m.
- Performance Begins: 7 p.m.
- Duration: Approximately 75 minutes
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Learn More — Explore These Themes
The content below derives from the Northrop Across Campus Program that supports Northrop’s mission toward cultivating intersections between performing arts and education for the benefit of all participants now and for generations to come.
Find ways to make thematic connections to these suggested topics:
- Chamber Ensemble, Strings
- Music After 1945
- Composition
- Arranging
- Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies
- Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies
- American Indian Studies
Dive deeper with these resources that provide additional information about the performers, the history of the art form and the artistic process.
Video: “‘Music for Transitions’ - inti figgis-vizueta
Video: “‘openwork, knotted object … ’ by inti figgis-vizueta | National Sawdust Ensemble”
“James McVinnie features several Wise composers on new album” — Wise Music Classical
Video: “Andrew Yee and Caroline Shaw: A Concert and Conversation”
Allphin, Penrose M. “Imagining the Trans Symphony: Integrating Transgender Composer Identity in Music Analysis.” Masters Theses, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2021 (1031).
Start a conversation about the performance or encourage reflection, using these questions as inspiration
inti figgis-vizueta, the composer of “Music for Transitions,” writes magically real music through the lens of personal identities, braiding a childhood of overlapping immigrant communities and Black-founded Freedom Schools — in Chocolate City (Washington, D.C.) — with direct Andean Quichua and Irish heritage and a deep connection to the land.
- How do you imagine a composer would bring magical realism, often understood as a literary genre or motif, into music?
- How does music connect us to our cultural identity?
- What do you know about the land where the University of Minnesota is located, and how did you learn about it?
“Music for Transitions” is the first full-length album to exclusively feature works by figgis-vizueta, performed by the Rothko String Quartet in their Minnesota debut and by Grammy Award-winning cellist Andrew Yee. Building from figgis-vizueta and Yee’s 2020 cello quartet of the same name, the album’s five pieces explore Indigenous heritage and trans identity through organic, ecstatic soundscapes.
- How might achieving a milestone like recording a full-length album change an artist, their art or process?
- How can art’s ability to express multiple emotions and experiences, sometimes all at once, change people and the world?
- How does music challenge or reinforce systems of oppression?
The program will open with figgis-vizueta’s work “wayra” (wind),originally composed for James McVinnie — acclaimed English organist, pianist and composer — commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and performed at Northrop by Aaron David Miller.
- How might creating art, especially in a professional, classical setting, be experienced as social and collaborative?
- What do you see as the cultural backdrop for new commissions in classical music, and how does that backdrop affect the composers and institutions that support them?
Acknowledgments
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
About the Liquid Music | Northrop Series
Expand your idea of how music flows through contemporary dance, film and beyond. The Liquid Music | Northrop Series brings boundary-pushing works to the Northrop stage. Immerse yourself in these dynamic performances from exceptional collaborations.
