Event:

+ PIGSPIGSPIGS

Info:

Bastard Assignments are Timothy Cape, Edward Henderson, Caitlin Rowley, and Josh Spear – four London-based composer-performers making experimental music. They work collaboratively and have developed a varied and open-shared practice. The group has been described as “one of the most exciting forces in contemporary music” by Financial Times, and “a welcome reminder of the value of risk in artistic creation” by Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. They have performed around the UK, Germany, USA, and Scandinavia, performing live and recording for various shows on BBC Radio and Deutschlandfunk.

The Copenhagen-based quartet Blomsten (‘The Flower’) works with percussion, drums, and cymbals in a circular choreography assembled as one instrument in the shape of a flower. Together, the group has created the works BLOOM (2021) and DROPS (2022) and released their debut album Pladsen in 2024 on the label Aar & Dag. The circular architecture of the drum layout allows the performers to use physical movement and gestures as an integrated part of their compositions. This makes the quartet a fascinating sight to behold, while also lending itself to a different sensibility of sound, as the performers guide their sticks, brushes, and mallets in new and unexpected ways.

Events:

+ The Funny Sad of Your Life!™®

+ The Elephant

Info:

Ensemble Garage have been yielding innovative artistic impulses, shaping the development in new music towards trans-medial, theatrical and performative forms of production. The Cologne-based ensemble, which was founded in 2009, is regularly invited to perform at renowned festivals in Germany and abroad. It consists of Annegret Mayer-Lindenberg (viola), Eva Boesch (cello), Yuka Ohta (percussion), Malgorzata Walentynowicz (piano/keyboard), Carlos Cordeiro (clarinet/bass clarinet/EWI), Steffen Ahrens (guitar), and Till Künkler (trombone).

Ensemble Nikel is a Swiss quartet consisting of saxophone, electric guitar, percussion, and piano. A mix of traditional and contemporary instruments, they combine to form an alternative chamber music output where electric and acoustic sounds are fused into a unified sonic organism built on a wide, yet discerning musical vocabulary. Given its unique formation, the group’s repertoire is entirely based on music written for the quartet. The ensemble is a frequent guest at major festivals of contemporary music throughout Europe. In recent years, they have increased their international presence with appearances in North America, South America, and New Zealand.

Jennifer Walshe (b. 1974) is a London-based composer and performer from Ireland. Her music has been commissioned, broadcast, and performed all over the world. She has been the recipient of prestigious fellowships and prizes in New York, Berlin, Darmstadt, among others. Recent projects include TIME TIME TIME, an opera written in collaboration with the philosopher Timothy Morton, and THE SITE OF AN INVESTIGATION, a 30-minute epic for Walshe’s voice and orchestra, commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Walshe has also worked extensively with AI. She is currently professor of composition at the University of Oxford.

Event:

+ Jeppe Just Institute and Friends

Info:

Jeppe Just Christensen (b. 1978) works with a variety of elements in his music, which reference themes such as childhood and nostalgia and represent musical mismatch. Christensen, who is based in Copenhagen, uses and reuses found objects and instruments in new constellations, both musically and visually, and he often builds or rebuilds his instruments himself. ​In 2011, he formed Jeppe Just Instituttet along with Matias Seibæk and David Hildebrandt. The group performs songs that span both lullabies and drunkard songs on unique instruments, including saw, melodica, kalimba and a variety of untraditional percussion.

Event:

+ The Elephant

Info:

Lasse Schwanenflügel Piasecki (b. 1981) is a composer and director based in Copenhagen. His works are based on concepts that exist in an audiovisual borderland. His music has been performed by world-renowned ensembles such as the Arditti Quartet and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Piasecki graduated from the soloist class in composition at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark, in 2012, and obtained his master’s degree from the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2007. Among his many  accomplishments, he has directed and composed for the dance performance Rudy at The Royal Theatre and the opera film Vil du med til Janus?.

Event:

+ Resonance Towers

Info:

Maj Kjærsig (b. 1988) is an artist working at the intersection of sound and visual art. Based in Odsherred on Zealand, Denmark, she graduated from the Funen Art Academy in 2016. Kjærsig’s practice explores various forms of material resonance and how our relationships with spatial, human, and more-than-human environments evolve. Her works are visual, rhythmic, and relationally investigative rather than purely analytical. Her work spans multiple disciplines, including sound works and ceramic installations.

Event:

+ Harsh, Dear

Info:

Marcela Lucatelli (b. 1988) is a Brazilian composer, director and vocalist. Her singular works – described as “scores for the limits of body and voice” and “inhuman human noise” – are strikingly original, sensuous, and politically charged. They redefine the stage as an arena for art, humor, and the struggle for life itself. Her compositions have been performed globally by leading ensembles such as the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, SCENATET and Apartment House, with appearances at numerous renowned festivals and venues. 

Event:

+ The Funny Sad of Your Life!™®

Info:

Mathias Monrad Møller (b. 1988) is a Danish-German singer and composer who juxtaposes musical ideas with materials from politics, pop culture, history, and literature. He lives and works in Copenhagen, and his works have been performed by ensembles such as Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and PHØNIX16 Berlin. They have also been broadcast across European radio and featured at festivals, including Ultraschall Berlin and Klang Copenhagen. A recipient of the Carl Nielsen and Léonie Sonning talent prizes, he closely collaborates with choreographer Alma Toaspern under the moniker toaspern|moeller.

Matthew Shlomowitz (b. 1975) is a London-based composer from Australia. Many of his works are grouped in series. Letter Pieces are open scores combining physical action and music, while Popular Contexts mix recognizable recorded sound and music. He geeks out on music techniques in Explorations in Polytonality and other Musical Wonders. He co-composed Six Scenes for Turntables and Orchestra with Mariam Rezaei and is currently working with Vid Simoniti on a monodrama called I have a big Idea for mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts Dean and Rubiks. He teaches at the University of Southampton, writes articles, co-creates the Soundmaking podcast, and co-directs the Plus Minus Ensemble.

Nolan Lem (b. 1986) is an American artist and researcher living and working in Copenhagen, Denmark. His work navigates the intersections of sound, motion, and collective behaviors within large-scale interactive systems. Drawing from a wide array of materials, devices, and cultural objects, his practice creates immersive audio-visual environments that emerge from distributed networks of sonic machinery. Lem’s work has been featured internationally at venues such as the Museum of Modern Art Buenos Aires, Pioneer Works, L’HOSTE Art Contemporain, and the Danish National Museum of Music. Currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher at Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Olga Szymula (b. 1986) is a Polish composer, performer, and director who lives and works in Aarhus, Denmark. Olga specializes in interdisciplinary, experimental works that blend video, sound, and performance. Projects include MON (2021), re- (2023) for K!lart ensemble, and Lapses (2017). Olga also composes scores for film (Baba Vanga, The Siren's Scream) and dance (Gravity, PRIMUS). Recently, Olga has delved into somatics and choreography, shaping Body Epiphanies, which will premiere at SPOR festival 2025. Olga is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in electronic composition at DIEM.

Simon Løffler (b. 1981) has based his work on prolonged developmental processes that develop alternative instrumental practises, often exploring the mechanics of the body. In the last 5 years Løfflers’ work has explored the proximity between human coporeality and non-humans, manifested in his Animalia cycle, which is currently comprising nine pieces and constantly evolving. The Danish-born artist performs – and is performed – around the world, and he currently divides his time between Oslo and Copenhagen. He studied composition in Copenhagen, Berlin, Aarhus and Bruxelles.

Sóley Sigurjónsdóttir (b. 1996), known professionally as Sól Ey, is an Icelandic composer and new media artist who currently lives and works in both Copenhagen and The Hague. She makes performances and interactive installations, and she designs instruments that combine sound, space, movement, light and the body. Often working with sensors and new technologies, her work emphasizes immersion, participation, and social interaction. Currently, her artistic research focuses on the possibilities of the human body when extended with electronics or objects. She studied composition at Iceland University of the Arts and the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague.