UNM PERFORMERS
Chamber Ensembles of the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus
Fredrik Bjellsater
Jennifer Macpherson
UNM Orchestra
William Janch Pedersen
Chamber Ensembles of the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus
Fredrik Bjellsater
Jennifer Macpherson
UNM Orchestra
William Janch Pedersen
Marte Røyeng (b. 1990) has her background in the singer-songwriter tradition, and from composition studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music (2016–2021). She works with acoustic ensemble and solo formats, as well as electroacoustic music, theatrical expressions, text and movement. Two of her instrumental works have been performed at Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, and her piano piece “GISP” has been selected for the Ung Nordisk Musik festival 2021.
A line which runs through Marte Røyeng’s multifaceted catalogue of contemporary classical music, pop songs and music theatre works is a fascination for the scope of human attention – what we notice, what we miss, and what we avoid. As a composer, writer and performer she enjoys creating musical situations where muted or hidden voices can be uncovered – be it human or non-human ones.
Stina Tordby (b.1992) is a first year composition student at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. She is fascinated with using music as an outlet for understanding and exploring her own inner realms, aiming to open both her own and others sensibilities to experience music.
Mikkel Alvheim Åse (f.1998) has a background as a percussionist and is currently studying composition at The Norwegian Academy of Music. He has previously performed with ensembles such as SISU, as soloist with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, and has been a regular member of the Bergen Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. His compositional processes often explore the musical values sitting in the cross-section between music and closely related subjects, such as movement and space, and he has previously cooperated with both dancers, choreographers and architects. During his studies he has specialized in electroacoustic music, and his pieces often play with the same subjects.
Linnea Landström (b. 1996) is a composer, vocalist and producer raised in Luleå, north of Sweden. After studies in jazz music, choral conducting and composition at Sjöviks Folkhögskola, she moved to Örebro to study the Bachelor’s Programme in Composition at The School of Music, Theatre and Art, where she graduated in june 2020. During the last year she has been teaching music theory and studying composition and arranging at master level at the same institution. She also had the opportunity to work with ensembles like Stenhammar Quartet and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and was named the top three candidate in both the international composition-contests Linköping Studentsångares Composition Award 2020 and Allmänna Sången and Anders Wall Composition Award 2021. Her main field is western contemporary art music but her musical artistry extends from creating children’s theater to sing choral church music. Being both a vocalist and chorist she often uses her voice in the creative process, which Passager is an example for with different vocal improvisation translated into the score.
Robin Lilja was born in 1995 in Sweden, and has studied composition since 2014. At the time of this writing he is finishing his master’s degree in composition at the Piteå School of Music (Luleå University of Technology), studying for Jan Sandström and Fredrik Högberg. Last year he won the 6th International Composition Competition ‘Sinfonietta per Sinfonietta’ organized by the Orchestra of the Royal Capital City of Krakow Sinfonietta Cracovia. His style of composing varies between intuitive and algorithmic approaches, where courses with Gerhard Nierhaus serve as the main source of inspiration for the latter. His music has premiered in Iceland, Poland and Sweden. His works have been performed by Norrlandsoperans symfoniorkester, Gävle symfoniorkester and Norrbotten NEO, among others.
Marcela Lucatelli can already be hailed as one of the most innovative vocalists and composers of her generation. Born in Brazil and based in Denmark, Marcela has earned international recognition for her extremely original, sensuous and politically charged performance works. The composer is known for writing ”scores for the limits of bodies and voice” (The Wire).
Her pieces are currently performed by vocal elite groups such as the Danish National Vocal Ensemble and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, together with some of the most edgy ensembles and music collectives in the world, such as Apartment House (UK), Bastard Assignments (UK) and Mocrep (US). Her works have been performed at Donaueschinger Musiktage, Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Nordic Music Days, KLANG – Copenhagen Avantgarde Music Festival, SPOR Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, DMA Jazz – Danish Music Awards, Ultima – Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Borealis Festival, AllEars Festival for Improvised Music, Reykjavik Arts Festival, Waverly Project NYU, FILE – Electronic Language International Festival, Festival Novas Frequências, WOMEX, among other festivals and events worldwide.
Lucatelli has been awarded the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Foundation Talent Prize in Composition 2019 and Pelle Prize 2021, for a young composer whose talent dares to cross the norms of its time.
Dylan Richards (b. 1992) is an American composer, curator, and performer creating works in the space between music and intermedia art. His practice engages with the ellison of curation and composition, with a particular focus on composing events as integral experiences. Allusions to internet culture and metamusicial references litter his work.
He is pursuing an advanced-postgraduate diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, where he also received his master’s degree in composition. He previously studied privately with Johannes Kreidler in Berlin, and received a BA in Music from Reed College. He is a co-founder, co-director, and performer of the ensemble Current Resonance and the Vice-Chair of Ung Nordisk Musik Denmark.
Mai Ane Pil Siedentopp is a Danish composer and sound artist interested in exploring everyday objects as musical instruments. The work “Enclose” is based on long-term research in the material paper, the forms and sounds this particular material contains. In her works, she aims to create a sensuous and fragile experience, she is inspired by challenging the negative perception the concept fragile often has, and why the introverted feeling and experience is seen as less intense than the extroverted one. What happens if the two play together in their contrasts and create a gentle voice with great volume.
“Enclose” is a part of her study of how graphic notation can be used to convey and support the experience of sound works and art music. In 2021 she releases the collection “Pieces For Paper” the first part of her trilogy, where she examines various paper as instruments. The collection is released as a book with graphical notations and photographs. In late 2021 she will release “Voices For Existing” where “Enclose” will be featured.
Elizabeth Shearon is a current member of NyMusikks composer community in Norway and a recipient of A.G. Francis Prize for Composition in 2019, awarded by Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, where she studied under Dr. Erik Griswold. In 2020, Elizabeth had completed her diploma studies in composition and applied music theory at Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo with composers Bente Leiknes Thorsen, Kjell Habbestad and music theorists Anders Tykesson and Peter van Tour.
Her recent and upcoming involvements include participation in IMPULSE New Music Festival (CA, US) with Jacqueline A. Rolle Memorial Scholarship; reMusik contemporary music forum; Art, Research and Creation Opus aka ARCO (FR); Impuls Academy and Festival in Graz, Nief Norf new music festival (TN/USA) amongst others.
Elizabeth aspires to explore the potential of the contemporary arts and promote new talents and creative movements. In particular, Elizabeth aspires to develop her musical language through multidisciplinary collaborations. In addition, she hopes to bring storytelling and experimental concepts to a new level and broaden the horizons of contemporary music/art with her practice of these disciplines.
Fredrik Storsveen (b.1996) is a second year composition student at the Norwegian Academy of Music, and has previously studied composition at Gotlands Tonsättarskola. He is interested in music theatre and the relationship between movement and sound, often incorporating elements from theatre, dance and everyday life into his works.
Birgit Djupedal (born 1994, Bodø) composes acoustic music for all kinds of ensembles. Her music is a mixture of traditional harmony, free-tonality, often with aspects of performance and political themes. Djupedal took her master in composition at Iceland University of the Arts in 2018. She has a bachelor in musicology and year-programme in church music from NTNU, the university in Trondheim. She is currently working as a freelance composer, conductor and performer, living in Oslo.
Djupedal is currently working on two bigger, interdisciplinary projects with music and visual arts. One is called OUTPOST, and Icelandic-Norwegian project she is founder of as well as composer/performer, and “ikke-stedet”, a textile sculpture that also works as musical notation that will premiere at Festspillene i Nord-Norge in 2022. Both of these projects, together with the piece “I am not welcome” that she participates with at UNM, are examples of her multifaceted art practice that includes performing, composing and visual art expressions.
Djupedal’s music has been performed at Festspillene i Bergen, Norsk salmefestival, Nordland musikkfestuke, Trondheim kammermusikkfestival, Ultima, Dark Music Days, Skálholt Summer Concert, Vaka Þjóðlistahátið, Óperudagar í Reykjavík, shown on RÚV and been a part of The European Year of Cultural Heritage.
Electronic music composer dragongirl, alias of Nikoline Ursin Erichsen, works at the intersection of club music, contemporary music and performance art. dragongirl composes from the idea of music as a speculative medium, and draws inspiration from literary fantasy, horror movies and video games all the while having a strong idealism as a base. With suggestive and atmospheric notes, she hints to a future where dragons and machines live together in beautiful harmony.
Rob Durnin is a British composer, performer and student of the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. His works have been applauded for their high degree of technical perfection and for their multidisciplinary innovation.
In the past his works have been performed by such notable ensembles as Figura Ensemble, Esbjerg Ensemble, Ensemble Recherche and the Danish Radio Choir.
As a performer Rob is often involved in the realisation of his compositions. Trained as a pianist, he is a member of the contemporary music ensemble K!ART and has in that capacity performed a wide range of works by young composers both based in Denmark and internationally.
Johanna Sulalampi is a sound designer and sound artist based in Järvenpää, Finland. In her works she transforms inaudible imaginary landscapes and fantasy worlds into audible constructions. Stretching the boundaries of comprehension about what is acknowledged as music is one of her main interests.
SÚL_VAD is an art collective consisting of visual artist Ásdís Birna Gylfadóttir and composer Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir.
Growing up together in a small town in Iceland, their artistic collaboration began in 2017 when they created the audiovisual performance Ymur, premiering at the European audio and art festival Tut Töt Tuð in the Netherlands that same year. Since then, their work has been presented in various exhibitions and events in Sweden, Austria, Iceland and The Netherlands.
Working with video and audio in the form of installations and live performances, their work explores the relations and opposites between the visual and the auditory, focusing on the seen and the heard elements of the world around us. Taking inspiration from the visible and hidden world of Icelandic nature, each work is an autonomous result of their collaborative research of various perspectives and topics important to the artists, including social issues, human behaviour, and the spiritual mind to name a few.
Fritiof Palm (b. 1993) is a musician, composer and arranger residing in Malmö, Sweden, raised in a family of devoted amateur musicians. From an aesthetic perspective, he is an omnivore avidly exploring and questioning all sorts of artistic expressions that are subject to his exposure, considering his lack of stylistic residence a virtue.
He is musically active within a variety of constellations of different nature including solo violinist with Järfälla Symphony Orchestra, solo Thereminist with KTH Academic Orchestra, arranger and music manager at the Tullgarn Society’s (Tullgarnsällskapet) theatre association as well as composer for instrumentalists and ensembles of all sizes to mention a few.
Educated at Malmö Acedemy of Music in classical violin, supervised by Jörgen Svensson, and composition, supervised by Rolf Martinsson, at bachelor level with the latest degree in composition received in 2020, he is now continuing his studies in composition at Malmö Academy of Music, supervised by Bent Sørensen and Staffan Storm, at master level.
Gabriel Paiuk (*1975) is a composer and sound artist whose recent work is focused on the way notions, practices, and material aspects of sound mediation play a role in modulating our listening. His work takes the form of sound installations, compositions for instruments and electronics and collaborations with other disciplines.
In 2006 he won the Gaudeamus Composition Prize for his work Res Extensa – which was the first time a sound installation was awarded the prize. Recent works have been presented at Gallery W139, LI-MA and Sonic Acts Festival (Amsterdam), Universität Mozarteum (Salzburg) and the Willem Twee Kunstruimte-November Music Festival (Den Bosch). His ensemble and solo chamber work has been performed by Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik, ASKO ensemble, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, Slagwerk Den Haag, Francesco Dillon, Ekkehard Windrich and Modelo62, among others. As a pianist-improviser he performed internationally and recorded together with musicians like Andrea Neumann, Axel Dörner, Jason Kahn, Keith Rowe, Burkhard Beins, Rhodri Davies, Gunter Mueller, Lucio Capece, Robin Hayward, Sergio Merce and others. Both his electronic and chamber works as well as his improvised music collaborations have been published in numerous labels internationally.
PAMELA ANGELA is a vibrant affair, a collaboration between composers Mia Ghabarou and Áslaug Magnúsdóttir. In their multifaceted approach to production, they draw on classical and electronic music, performance art and dramaturgy. PAMELA ANGELA’s live performance is as emotionally intrusive as it is ever evolving, giving new life to old songs and recurring melodies in alternating constellations of musicians and artists.
Áslaug holds a BA in electronic composition from Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium and Mia plans to graduate from the same program at the end of 2021. Both are based in Copenhagen.
Leevi Räsänen (b. 1997) is a Helsinki-based composer and composition pedagogue. His works include chamber, choral, vocal, orchestral and solo music and music for symphonic wind band. Sometimes they even get performed. Räsänen is part of the board of UNM Finland. ”Culture has played an exceptionally significant role in my family. I have been really privileged to be able to go to concerts, theatre, art exhibitions and opera since I was a child. In my childhood, the Savonlinna Opera Festival was the highlight of my summers. We drove to the opera from Enonkoski, where I’m from. My parents’ support for what was first for a musical hobby and later turned out to be a career has been the most important thing to me and without their unwavering support, truth be told, I’m not sure if I’d be alive, let alone at this point as a composer. During high school, I started suffering from serious mental illness that made me incapacitated. Along with other treatments, composing and playing were therapeutic for me. Nowadays I’m mostly doing well, but my artistic output still retains a kind of therapist’s role. My works are often related to being human, especially the human mind and emotions. I don’t have any musical paragons, as I often don’t think about music on a like/don’t like axis. All music turns out to be more interesting to me the better I understand it — and I try to think the same about other things in life as well.”
Outo Kollektiivi (Odd Collective) consists of three artists: dramaturge Juho Keränen, dance artist/choreographer Sofia Keto-Tokoi and composer Matilda Seppälä. Sokkelo (maze), premiered in september 2019 in Outokumpu, was their first project together. Members of the collective have studied in e.g. the Theatre School and Sibelius-Academy of University of the Arts Helsinki, Universität der Künste Berlin and Contemporary Dance education in Outokumpu. They have been working separately in various projects involving sound, movement, technology, theater and performance art and got to know each other through friends in the field. Members of the collective have a shared interest for creating multidisciplinary art spaces.
Sofia Keto-Tokoi ( b. 1996) is a dancer and a musician who is particularly into interdisciplinary working. She has been sailing between movement and sound and other forms in performing arts. Sofia likes to perform and explore contemporary dance, choreography, movement and sound improvisation.
Juho-Matias Keränen (b. 1991) is a dramaturge-writer-performer who likes to explore performances as systems of explicit and implicit rules of social interaction and behavior that create interesting situations. He views the world and tradition of contemporary classical music as a treasure chest of said rules and codes.
Matilda Seppälä (b. 1993) is a composer with a special interest towards playful forms, new instruments/controllers and the friction between performing and hearing sound. Matilda has been working lately with bio feedback sensors, performative possibilities of music and experimental musical dramaturgies.
Teemu Mastovaara – He has graduated from Contemporary Performance and Composition (CoPeCo) master’s programme, where he spent four semesters in Tallinn, Stockholm, Lyon and Hamburg, one in each. He also studied cello, music education and musicology in Turku. His recent activities include chairperson work for What ever Works! organisation, composition, recording cello for various bands, and a teaching position in Jakobstad. His compositional works include chamber music, acousmatic music, electroacoustic music, interdisciplinary works, and an installation. Semi-DIY electronics are also becoming a thing for him. His works have been performed in for example What ever Works!, UNM and Musica Nova. Additional work includes being the cellist in Ensemble for New Music Tallinn, and various musical theatre productions.
Sofie Meyer is a Danish composer and violin player. She is currently pursuing her masters degree in composition at the Estonian Academy for Music and Theatre under the guidance of Helena Tulve. She has participated in master classes with teachers such as Toshio Hosokawa, Chaya Czernowin and Jānis Petraškevičs. Her works have been performed in various festivals such as Muriad Festival, Commute Festival and the Latvian Music Festival. She is active as an improviser and performer of new music as well as a keen player of traditional music.
Hjalti Nordal graduated with a BA degree in composition from the Icelandic University of the Arts in the spring of 2020. Hjalti‘s compositions have been performed by both colleagues and professionals such as Duo Harpverk, Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Reykjavík Cathedral Choir, and members of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Þorkell Nordal is an Icelandic composer that resides in Helsinki. In his music he likes to create musical environments where he invites the listener to dwell in – small fluctuations and gradual processes over time bring narrative to the music. He is interested to chisel his musical ideas into few elements that create minimal but yet interesting soundscapes. Majority of his oeuvre consists of instrumental music for different solo instruments and chamber ensembles. Recently his interest has been drawn towards the possibilities of combining electronic means with smaller instrumental ensembles. Previously he has studied composition at the Iceland University of the Arts and Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Currently he studies composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. His music has been played in various concerts in Iceland as well as internationally, for example in Ung Nordisk Musik, Musica Nova Helsinki and Estonian Music Days.
K.óla (Katrín Helga Ólafsdóttir) is an Icelandic artist (b.1996). She received a BA degree in Composition at the Icelandic University of Arts in the summer of 2020. She also writes and plays pop-music. Her album ‘Allt verður alltílæ’ (translation: Everything will turn out okay) released in 2019 got nominated for the Pop album of the year at the Icelandic Music awards and won the Kraumur award. Her album PLASTPRINSESSAN, released in february 2020 got nominated for Kraumur Award and Icelandic music awards. Her compositions often include non-linear scores, non-musical elements and playfulness. She is a member of the art-collective Post-dreifing which has been very active the last 3 years in hosting events and releasing music of grassroot artists in Iceland.
Martin Korssletten is a Norwegian contemporary composer. Martin is studying a bachelor’s degree in composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music, with Eivind Buene as his main teacher. Martin has written instrumental works, electro-acoustic pieces as well as music for theatre. For the time being, Martin is interested in historical context in order to give his compositional practice a sense of urgency.
Mattias Hållsten: I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in electro-acoustic composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. My focus in the past has been primarily on electronic music and various methods of digital synthesis like feedback, phase modulation and physical modeling, as well as different techniques for spatialisation. Recently my interest has shifted towards the use of acoustic instruments, expanded through the use of electronics. “Hypothermia for bass drum” is an example of this.
No matter the sound source, however, I have a strong interest in long-form music and the use of various tuning systems and temperaments. My interest in early music, from all around the world, is closely linked to this. When writing a piece of music, I like to consider not only the musical material but also the spatial and social contexts in which the music will occur. A musical performance can, to me, be an opportunity to consider acoustic and psycho-acoustic phenomena as well as the various intricacies of auditory perception.
Christoffer Håård was born in 1997 in Jönköping, and has since 2019 been studying his Bachelor’s degree in composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, after two years at Gotland School of Music Composition. His main discipline is instrumental music, sometimes branching out in incorporating electronic elements, as well as having made interdisciplinary projects with dancers. In addition to having pieces being performed by fellow music students, his works have also been played by professional ensembles such as Norrbotten NEO and GotlandsMusiken. In Christoffer’s works he aims to express the poetics of different aspects which interests him; for example of musical timing, perceptions of musical form on micro versus macro scale, gesture, the purely visual aspects of musicians performing their instruments as well as the physical experience of sounds, be they very harsh or very soft.
ILINX: The Copenhagen based vocal group, ilinx, is Protecting, preserving, and enchanting with the use of the human voice. ilinx consists of the three young composers, singers and producers Laura Marie Madsen, Anna Sophie Mæhl and Amanda Appel.
Aki Knaappila, a Finnish pianist and composer. In 2016 he graduated from Turku Conservatory classical piano as his primary subject. He is currently studying composition at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences. His compositions have been performed for example, at the Tampering Festival, PONSI Orchestras concerts at two Finnish cities Kokkola and Pietarsaari and Rauma Festivo Music Festival. Two of his compositions for wind orchestra are volitional for the Finnish National Wind Orchestra Competition 2022. In 2017 Aki was granted a working grant for an orchestral composition by the Alfred Kordelin Foundation.
Martin A. Hirsti-Kvam (1991-) is a composer who creates conceptually-oriented works, often using electronics, visual elements and sampling in dialogue with live performers, always in an attempt to give new perspectives and reflection to what constitutes music, listening and live performance.
In 2018, he won the Kranichsteiner prize for Composition at the Darmstadt Summer Courses. In 2020 he was chosen to participate in the talent programme for young composers, KUPP, organized by Music Norway and the Norwegian Society of Composers. He has had works performed by ensembles such as Cikada, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra etc. and has had works performed at venues such as Ultima Festival in Oslo, SPOR Festival for Contemporary Music and Sound Art in Aarhus and at the Darmstadt Summer Courses. He has a bachelor degree in composition from the Norwegian Academy of Music and a bachelor degree in Musicology from the University of Oslo.
Tze Yeung Ho (b. 1992) is a Norwegian composer. His music, heard on both the theatre and concert stage, often explores territories of speech, dramaturgy and poetics. Tze Yeung’s works draw often from texts and sounds of Scandinavian, Finno-Ugric and Chinese languages. He prefers not to work in English. Relatable to many second generation Hong Kong immigrants in Europe, Tze Yeung grew up in the cacophony of the kitchen of his family’s former restaurant in Finnmark. He is pursuing a PhD degree in music composition at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. He splits his time between Oslo, Helsinki and Tallinn.
Michael Hope (b.1995) is a UK-born composer based in Denmark, whose output ranges from solo instrumental works to large-scale orchestral works and everything in between, often with an emphasis on multimedia, performativity and music theatre. Current areas of compositional focus include re-evaluations of the performance spectacle, a conceptual approach towards media selection and misuse, as well as examinations into the relationship between production and consumption, and the inevitable emergence of waste, repetition and cliché that arises from such a relationship, drawing especially on human figures, stories and experiences for creative impetus. After completing his undergraduate studies in composition at the Royal Northern College of Music on the prestigious Joint Course with the University of Manchester in 2017, Michael went on to complete his Master’s degree in Composition at Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium in Aarhus in 2020. He has had works performed and produced throughout Europe, as well as Australia and the USA, by ensembles and associations such as Esbjerg Ensemble, Aarhus Sinfonietta, AUT (Aarhus Unge Tonekunstnere), and the BBC Singers. He is co-founder, co-director and performer with the Aarhus-based composer-performer ensemble Current Resonance, and in 2020 became a Britten-Pears Young Artist.
Fredrik Ekenvi, is currently studying in the masters composition program at Piteå School of Music. He grew up in Gothenburg and at the age of 19 moved to Oskarshamn to study composition. After two years there he moved to Piteå and began his studies at LTU. In addition to composing, I also play the electric guitar and have composed and performed pieces for that. His piece in this year’s UNM is called Stimulation no.2. It was originally written for Norrbotten NEO + additional musicians and it deals with his own experiences regarding tinnitus.
Thomas Goff is a British musician living in The Hague, Netherlands. Having studied as a composer, cellist and jazz pianist, he is now quickly becoming recognised as a conductor who excels in a vast range of repertoire. In different contexts, he has conducted the Netherlands Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ulster Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Cadaqués Orchestra, Orkest van het Oosten, and Philharmonie Zuidnederland.
He was the Oglesby Scholar at the Royal Northern College of Music where he graduated with the Brierly/Kershaw Prize in Conducting. He served as assistant conductor at the BBC Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras and debuted with the Manchester Camerata in June 2017.
Since moving to The Hague, Thomas has worked as assistant conductor with most of the orchestras in the Netherlands. Highlights of the 18/19 season included performances with Noord Nederlands Orkest, Dutch National Opera Academy, AskoSchönberg in Philharmonie Essen and The Royal Concertgebouw, and at Rotterdam Philharmonic’s Gergiev Festival in a masterclass with Valery Gergiev followed by concerts in Rotterdam, Utrecht and Den Haag.
Þórður Hallgrímsson (1999) was born and raised in Reykjavík, Iceland. He recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Instrumental Compositions from The Icelandic University of the Arts where his teachers were Páll Ragnar Pálsson and Hróðmar Ingi Sigurbjörnsson. In the coming winter he will be interning with Estonian composer Helena Tulve. In his most recent works, Þórður has put an emphasis on time and explored how expression of time or lack thereof creates different moods in the ears of the listener. Meditation on the Age of Rubbish (2019) for four trombones is totally lacking expression and is therefore mechanical and chaotic. It is short but hopefully impactful.
To Heidi Hassinen, music means honest emotions and sensory experiences. Inspired by her studies in Musicology, music philosophy and psycho-acoustics are among her interests she aims at reflecting in her artistic work. The expressive power of electroacoustic music, timbre and studio working are especially close to her heart — she spent the 2018-2019 academic year at MDW, Vienna studying electroacoustic composition and music programming with Karlheinz Essl. Currently, Heidi is finalizing her composition degree at Sibelius-Academy under the guidance of Veli-Matti Puumala. Besides Kato, a mini-opera, Huoli, depicting alcoholism from the point of view of a loved-one is one of her most performed pieces. In 2020, her music both for string and wind orchestras was premiered in Finland. Alongside composition, Heidi graduated with honors in Computer Science at Helsinki University and is currently conducting research in Human-Computer Interaction at Aalto University, with the aim of combining her insights in music and programming.
Creative Catastrophe Collective (CCC) creates catastrophes collectively. We merge different genres, elements and sensory experiences to create intriguing spaces for audiences to explore. Most of our work explores the stage as a shared space where music, theatre, film and art installations meet. We aim to foster the audience’s curiosity and make them actively involved in the performance. CCC consists of percussionists Antoine Josselin and José Silva, composer/media artist Sól Ey, and media/visual artist Soyun Park.
Antoine Josselin (b. 1994) is a French percussionist and performance artist. In 2018, he obtained a master degree in percussion performance from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague (NL). He regularly performs abroad with trio Michela Amici or Slagwerk Den Haag. In 2019, he performed in the opera Aus Licht by Karlheinz Stockhausen – a production by the Dutch National Opera, Holland Festival and the Stockhausen Foundation. Josselin has collaborated with instrumental groups from France and The Netherlands including Ensemble Linea, Ensemble Hanatsu Miroir, The Residentie Orkest, The Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, The Insomnio Ensemble, Opera Group The Fat Lady, Slagwerk Den Haag, The New European Ensemble and The Veenfabriek. Together with José Silva, they form the percussion duo Bimetric. Through performance art, Josselin wishes to develop his personality in a world without boundaries, a world of broader artistic horizons, looking for transversality and creation, in music as in the other arts.
José Silva (b. 1995) is a Portuguese percussionist based in Porto. He is a member of the percussion duo Bimetric and regularly performs with new-media composer collective Interferencia. José graduated with a Master’s degree in Percussion Performance from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 2019. The theme of the Master Thesis was “Humanization of Performance ”, which reflects on the development of performance in contemporary music and the presence of the performer using live electronics. He has collaborated with noteworthy percussion groups in Holland and Switzerland, such as Slagwerk Den Haag and Eklekto Percussion, and participated in the Jan Putjens festival at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. He was a part of the Aus Licht project in partnership with the National Opera of the Netherlands, interpreting part of the opera cycle by K. Stockhausen, and performed in Quem Fala Assim by Manuel Brásio and José Baptista at Interferência.
Sól Ey (Sóley Sigurjónsdóttir, 1996) is an Icelandic composer, performer, and media artist based in The Netherlands. By exploring sound as a multisensorial phenomenon, she creates performances and installations that explore tactile, spatial, and social relationships. The objective is to create a sensitive and immersive environment where exploration is essential to the concept. Sól Ey’s works have been presented at Spatial Sound Institute in Budapest, TEMP studio in Lisbon, Concertgebouw in Bruges, Raflost, Reykjavik Art Festival, Dark Music Days in Reykjavik and Today’s Art Festival, Gaudeamus Festival and Dag in de Branding in The Netherlands. Furthermore, she has worked with artists and collectives such as Heiner Goebbels, Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT2) and Maze Ensemble, and been an artist-in-residence at the Spatial Sound Institute (Budapest 2018) and iii (The Hague 2021). In 2021, she obtained a bachelor degree in composition and a diploma from the Institute of Sonology at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague.
Soyun Park is a multidisciplinary artist and designer from South Korea who is currently based in The Hague. Growing up in Seoul, South Korea, where technological development was rapidly being intertwined with daily life, she found the need to explore her position in the digital realm. In her work, she explores how technology is affecting and changing human discourses from the individual level all the way to politics and communities. Her work takes the form of films, installations, and audiovisual performances that experiment with a variety of new media and technologies. She is also a founder of a community-based studio RGBdog.
Tytti Arola is a Finnish composer and sound artist who is interested in bringing daily life to concert venues, doing multisensorial compositions and exploring spatial sound. Arola’s artworks often include electronics and lately she has been drawn towards performance art and instrument building. Arola holds master’s degrees from Sibelius Academy and Aalto University, and she is now focusing on working on composition commissions. Her works have been performed for example at Nordic Music Days, Helsinki Festival, Tampere Biennale, Musica Nova Helsinki, Ung Nordisk Musik, Our Festival and Flow Festival.
James Black was born 1990 in Torbay, England. Grew up in Bristol, and moved to Copenhagen in 2013 after studies at the University of Oxford. Graduated from the soloist class of the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2018.
“With James Black, you encounter a universe of real madness where ‘everything goes’. Where DIY video, hopeless choreographed performances, and accurately notated score music – among many other things – in a deliberately unsightly mix make up the work. The impossible is a deliberate dogma resulting in a unified expression, which is chaotic and almost gallows humorous, but where one senses a composer who ultimately has complete control over the final result. He is extremely consistent in what he sets out to do, and perhaps that is why you never doubt that it is James Black and not any other composer you are dealing with.” – Danish Arts Council, 2020
Xavier Bonfill is a Catalan composer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is currently studying in the Soloist Class (advanced postgraduate programme) at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, under guidance from Jeppe Just Christensen, Niels Rosing-Schow and Hans Peter Stubbe Teglbjærg. His music has been performed in Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania and China by musicians and ensembles like Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Avanti! sinfonietta, Quatour Diotima, NEKO3, Jean Thorel, Anna Alàs, María Hinojosa and Copenhagen Piano Quartet.
In his work, Xavier Bonfill creates a form for dialogue between different kinds of media and art forms, between text, image, acoustic and electronic sound. The point of departure is often found in quotes from different sources such as philosophy, literature, mythology or pop-culture, that will later be manipulated and seen with other eyes throughout the creative process. His artistic output encompasses works for traditional instruments, electronics, video and other multimedia formats such as interactive websites and apps. He often places himself in his pieces as a performer, in an attempt to pursue a personal and distinctive approach to composition, improvisation and performance in electronic music.