Brutus

Solo cello
6.5 minutes
2024

This is a piece from a larger collection of works entitled Dramatis Personae, comprised of solo pieces for string instruments each focusing on a character from a major Shakespeare play.
Composed as part of 2024’s ViU program, Brutus was written for cellist Jaeyoung Chung, an expert improviser and DMA student under Brian Manker. This work explores the character Brutus from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Most of the piece looks at Brutus from the perspective of the other characters in the play; largely Marc Antony in his famous ‘Honourable Man’ speech. However the middle section experiments with graphic notation to allow the performer to improvise a soliloquy based on if the audience had been able to hear Brutus’ thoughts during Marc Antony’s speech.