Press Quotes
“… a forward thinking composer who sings and plays violin simultaneously… Her sound isinvigorating, 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
“Traces of Bittová’s life, from her formative years in tiny villages to her apprenticeship in a toy shop to her performances with an avant-garde theater troupe, creep into every shadowy corner of her music. Her violin playing can be lilting and lovely, infused with nostalgia, and it can also splinter into shards of scraped, raw sound or constrict into tense clusters of pizzicato. Her singing ranges from lullaby-sweet to tunelessly feral.” –L.A. Weekly
“With intimacy and grace, she bridges the gap between the Czech folk tradition and the avant-garde. Her voice can gently and beautifully warble oblique poetry one minute, garrulousabstractions the next. Bittová’s unique charm gives her work a constant air of accessibility.”–Request
“…an innovative artist who shows how even one small body can transform a world of noise into stunning music.”
-Los Angeles Times
-Los Angeles Times
“Her vocal and instrumental technique is formidable, but what is most impressive is theimaginativeness of her excursions. (She) plays music that mixes elements of both deep ethnic traditions and the classical avant-garde. At its best, it really does have the strengths of a self-created folk music, unique and idiosyncratic, but with the stark power of Balkan singing or Hungarian fiddling.” –The Boston Globe
“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
“She has a chameleon of a voice - sweet and pure, earthily percussive, hauntingly melismatic and even with a touch of rock. … an album that builds with power and contains one musical surprise after another.” –Denver Post
“The Czech violinist, vocalist and composer Iva Bittová is one of Europe’s great musicalinnovators and traditionalists. She is also one of those truly rare musicians capable of an artisticbalancing act that maintains a nodding acquaintance with the musical rule book while having apassionate affair with non-conformity.” –Jazzwise, UK
“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 her self, ruled by the rhythms of sexuality, the flights of her imagination and the realities of modern social life. –The New York Times