"Raw and refined, passionate and contained, she has the soul of a gypsy, the voice of a troubadour, and the mind of a genius.”
— NPR, All Things Considered
Iva Bittová, New Resonances, MIT, 2022. Photo by Caroline Alden.
Iva Bittová
2022 MIT CAST Mellon Distinguished Visiting Artist
Czech avant-garde violinist, singer, and composer
About the Residency
MIT CAST welcomed Czech avant-garde violinist, singer, and composer Iva Bittová in 2022 for a Distinguished Visiting Artist residency exploring themes of space, nature, and survival through monthly visits to collaborate with MIT student ensembles and faculty, as well as visits to classes. During her visits to the Vocal Jazz Ensemble, world music classes, and in participatory workshops, Bittová shared her own original compositions, teaches improvisation with voice and movement, and conducted conversations on local and trans-local music, linking Slovak and Moravian traditional song to jazz, rock, and contemporary concert music.
Bittová is “a forward thinking composer who sings and plays violin simultaneously… Her sound is invigorating, urgent, and also soothing; it is a fusion of Old World and new-music sensibilities, infused with the spirit and language of Czech, Slovak, and Moravian music.” – New York Magazine
Bittová’s appointment as the 2022 CAST Mellon Distinguished Visiting Artist built on her relationship with MIT, having performed with MIT faculty and students on numerous occasions dating back to the CAST Marathon Concert in 2013.
In 2019, Bittová performed the US premiere of her album Zvon with the MIT Symphony Orchestra (MITSO) and guests Keala Kaumeheiwa, bass; Phil Sargent, guitar; Austin McMahon, drums; and Venkatesh Sivaraman, piano. Evan Ziporyn, faculty director of CAST and professor of Music and Theater Arts, conducted the opening concert of MITSO’s season, which is part of the 2019–20 MIT Sounding series, an annual concert series curated by Ziporyn and presented by the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) and MIT Music and Theater Arts.
In April 2016, as part of EVIYAN (a trio with Gyan Riley and Evan Ziporyn), Bittová presented “Exploring Improsition—the melding of improvisation and composition.” They were joined in MIT’s Kresge Auditorium by the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, led by Frederick Harris, Jr., Music Director, members of the MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble and special guest Ricky Richardson ’12. Included were world premieres of arrangements of EVIYAN compositions by Jamshied Sharifi ’83 and arrangements by Richard Oates ’18 and Garrett Parrish ’17 of compositions by Kurt Rosenwinkle and Leslie Bricusse. Additional music by Thad Jones, Bob Mintzer, Cole Porter, and Hermeto Pascoal (in honor of his 80th birthday) was performed.
Events
Past Events
New Resonances: Iva Bittová in Concert [rescheduled after inclement weather in February 2022]
October 15, 2022 / 7:00pm
Kresge Auditorium, MIT Building W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Czech avant-garde violinist, singer, and composer Iva Bittová concluded her 2022 Distinguished Visiting Artist residency with a performance celebrating the power and urgency of coming together in song to create hope and nourish our selves and our planet.
This performance explored collaboration, tradition, and improvisation through the music of Bartok, Berio, Czech and Slovak traditions, and Bittova’s own compositions. She was joined by MIT’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble, directed by Laura Grill Jaye; violinist and assistant professor of music Natalie Lin Douglas; and clarinetist, professor of music, and Director of Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) Evan Ziporyn. Bittová’s residency continued her creative collaboration with MIT that began in 2013.
The Heart is a Bell: Iva Bittová with the MIT Symphony Orchestra
October 10, 2019 / 8:00pm
MIT Kresge Auditorium, W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Iva Bittová performed with the MIT Symphony Orchestra (MITSO) as part of the 2019–20 MIT Sounding series. MITSO Guest Conductor, Evan Ziporyn
Program:
Vítězslava Kaprálová, Suita Rustica
Evan Ziporyn, Frog’s Eye
Iva Bittová, Zvon (US Premiere)
with Iva Bittová, solo voice; and guests Keala Kaumeheiwa, bass; Phil Sargent, guitar; Austin McMahon, drums; and Venkatesh Sivaraman, piano.
Composed over 75 years apart, Kaprálová’s Suita Rustica and Bittov‘s Zvon pull from their parallel yet distinct musical and cultural backgrounds to create orchestral tapestries merging Czech folk art with urbane modernity. Together they exemplify the ongoing ways in which composition can fiercely assert identity and difference.
Exploring Improsition—the melding of improvisation and composition
April 22, 2016 / 8:00pm
Kresge Auditorium, W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble. Frederick Harris, Jr., Music Director. Special guests: EVIYAN (Iva Bittová, Gyan Riley, and Evan Ziporyn). Ricky Richardson ’12 and members of the MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble were also featured. World premiere arrangements of EVIYAN compositions by Jamshied Sharifi ’83 and world premiere arrangements of compositions by Kurt Rosenwinkle and Leslie Bricusse by Richard Oates ’18, and Garrett Parrish ’17. Also music of Thad Jones, Bob Mintzer, Cole Porter, and Hermeto Pascoal (in honor of his 80th birthday).
EVIYAN World Premiere
March 2, 2013 / 7:30pm
Kresge Auditorium, W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Collaborators at MIT
Evan Ziporyn, Kenan Sahin Professor of Music at MIT and Faculty Director of the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST)
Biography
Iva Bittová was born in 1958 in Bruntál in northern Moravia, Czechoslovakia, located in the present-day Czech Republic.
Bittová was immersed in a musical environment from a young age, highly influenced along with her sisters by their father’s ability to pick up and play almost any instrument in both classical and folk styles. Bittová graduated from the Music Conservatory in Brno with a degree in drama and music, and rekindled an adolescent interest in playing the violin while she was working full time in theater.
In 1982, Bittová initiated her career as an instrumentalist and composer by studying with Professor Rudolf Šťastný, the primarius (first violin) of the Moravian String Quartet. The violin has been her passion and the most inspiring musical instrument in her professional life ever since.
After living in the countryside near Brno for 25 years, Bittová relocated to the United States in 2007, settling in upstate New York with her youngest son. She studied at the Academy of Ancient Music/Musicology of Masaryk University in Brno, earning her bachelor’s degree in 2015 and her master’s degree in 2018.
Biography: bittova.com/about
Website: bittova.com
Social: Facebook | SoundCloud
In the Media
“Iva Bittová is an extraordinary artist. Raw and refined, passionate and contained, she has the soul of a gypsy, the voice of a troubadour, and the mind of a genius.”
– NPR/All Things Considered
“Ms. Bittová is a true cosmopolitan, but she remains grounded in local expressions, and her own physicality. She takes on the role of the singer as town crier whose voice animates the old myths and current news. Ms. Bittová’s town is herself, ruled by the rhythms of sexuality, the flights of her imagination, and the realities of modern social life.”
“… an innovative artist who shows how even one small body can transform a world of noise into stunning music.”
– Los Angeles Times
MIT News: MIT Sounding 2019-20 explores far-reaching musical frontiers
New York Magazine: Joyful Noise
The Brooklyn Rail: The Purest One: Iva Bittová with the Bang on a Can All-Stars
Chronogram: Iva Bittová: A Voice in the Wilderness
All About Jazz: George Mraz / Iva Bittová: Moravian Gems