Extended Composition: Ensemble Studies, Moving Cellist and Metaxis
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RCH/006, Ron Cooke Hub, Campus East, University of York (Map)
Event details
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Extended Composition: Ensemble Studies, Moving Cellist and Metaxis
Experimental cellist and composer Tanja Orning explores the boundaries of music composition and performance through an interdisciplinary lens in this presentation. She will focusing three projects – Ensemble Studies, Metaxis, and Moving Cellist – that in different ways investigate the intersection of composition, movement, improvisation, and collaboration across artistic disciplines, while emphasizing the vital role of the performer’s body as both material and an active agent of artistic expression.
Ensemble Studies (2019–2021) investigates the concept of an ensemble by creating a new interdisciplinary quartet comprising a cellist, dramaturg, dancer, and folk musician. This work examines transitions between individuality and collectivity, professional and amateur, and explores the ensemble as both a creative and performative entity. Using rigorous rehearsals and studies (études), the ensemble builds its identity while simultaneously questioning the processes of becoming an ensemble.
Moving Cellist (2023) expands the repertoire of what a cellist can achieve, merging choreography and composition. Inspired by time and memory, this project intertwines sound, movement, and spatiality, creating a "choreography concert" expoling the boundaries between movement and sound.
In Metaxis (2026), the solo cellist, the cello, bow, and performer’s body are treated as entangled agents in a collaborative compositional process. Improvisation becomes a method for exploring sympoietic (Haraway) relationships between body, instrument, and environment. Movement and sound are given equal importance. It starts in the concrete, material, and physical conditions, investigating the consequences of "sound of movement and movement of sound". I have termed this performance practice "Cello musique concrète", also acknowledging the lineage from Pierre Shaeffer and Helmut Lachenmann, challenging classical music hierarchies and emphasizing the performer’s body as both material and an active agent of artistic expression.
These works collectively represent a movement towards extended composition, where artistic disciplines intersect, improvisation informs the creative process, and the performer’s role is redefined. The presentation will include video excerpts and a live performance on the Hardanger cello.
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About the performer
Tanja Orning is recognized as one of Norway's most innovative and experimental contemporary musicians. Her musical practice unfolds at the intersection of classical tradition, contemporary music, improvisation, and interdisciplinary art forms, making her a central force on the Norwegian contemporary music scene.With a passion for pushing the boundaries of cello performance, technically, physically, and artistically, Orning has realized numerous exploratory projects, ranging from the solo format CELLOTRONICS to collaborations in ensembles such as asamisimasa (winners of the Spellemann Award in 2012 and 2015), and duo partnerships with Helga Myhr, Ayumi Tanaka, Christian Wallumrød, Victor Bomstad, Eivind Lønning and Natasha Barrett. Her previous collaborations include Kyberia Duo, Ametri String Quartet, Dr. Ox Duo, Christian Wallumrød Ensemble, Sigurd Hole's Roraima, Andreas Ulvo's Vindall, Hedvig Mollestad (commissioned work for Molde Jazz Festival), Boa Trio, and the band Wunderkammer. She has premiered over 200 works, including cello concertos by Lene Grenager, Bente Leiknes Thorsen, and Mark Adderley, and has collaborated with prominent composers and musicians both nationally and internationally. Orning is also an active improviser, and her own compositions have been performed at festivals such as Ultima, Borealis, Tonehimmel, and Dark Music Days in Reykjavik.
With a strong interest in interdisciplinarity, Orning has created projects in collaboration with dramaturgs and choreographers, such as "Ensemble Studies" (2021) and the choreographic concert "Moving Cellist" (2023), which explore the borderland between sound and movement. Her new project "Cello Musique Concrete" premiered at Ultima 2026. Orning served as Professor of Classical Music Improvisation at the University of Agder (UiA) from 2020 to 2023 and is currently an Associate Professor in performance practice and contemporary music performance at the Norwegian Academy of Music (PhD, "The Polyphonic Performer", 2014).