The Sacredness of Trees

for 4-octave carillon (or 3-octave carillon)

Listen

’The Sacredness of Trees’ was commissioned by Nordic Music Days 2019 for Bodø Cathedral’s 4-octave carillon and the eminent Norwegian carillonneur Vegar Sandholt, to be performed on November 13, 2019 at the opening of the festival in Bodø, Norway. It was also performed each day of the festival (November 13-16), and was played simultaneously around the world, from 16 bell towers in Sweden, Denmark, usa, France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Australia!

The Bodø Cathedral carillon is a beautiful instrument, built in 2012 with 50 bells (a bit more than 4 octaves) which were cast at the Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry in Asten, the Netherlands, one of the oldest and most respected bell foundries in the world.

The commission from Nordic Music Days was based upon the festival theme of ’Truth’. Thinking about the bells themselves, the concept of Truth soon merged with my focus on the rich overtones of the bells. I came to think about the concept of overtones, and the fact that in English we some- times use the word ’overtone’ to denote something which is present or felt, without being stated. I started to think about the overtones of a bell – some very present, some barely audible – as that which expresses the bell’s true character. Maybe our outward presence in the world can be expressed
as our ’fundamental’, while our true, complex character is expressed by our own subtle, unique, felt-but-not-heard mix of natural harmonic and non-harmonic overtones? With these thoughts in mind, I built my new piece for Nordic Music Days upon the overtones of the deepest bell in the Bodø carillon. It is an exploration of the subtleties of inner truth (represen- ted by the complex overtones of the Bodø carillon), and the interaction
of that inner truth with the ’outer’ truth of the surrounding city and natural landscape.

For me, the natural world is an enormous source of truth, both in the un- folding of its natural laws and rhythms, and in its sheer natural beauty. But the truth of the natural world is not only beautiful: it also encompasses the destruction of our natural world, through (for example) the felling of old- growth forests. ’The Sacredness of Trees’ has become a call to respect and protect the world’s oldest forests, which are rapidly disappearing.

’The Sacredness of Trees’ was commissioned with support from Det norske komponistfondet (The Norwegian Composers’ Fund), and was nominated for the edvard-Prize in 2020.

Available for purchase from Norsk Musikforlag

https://musikkforlagene.no/en/product/ellen-lindquist-the-sacredness-of-trees/

Reviews: Many Thousand Gone (Marianne Baudouin Lie, Particular Recordings)

Ballade, 26. aug. 2020, Maren Ørstavik (read full review)

Ellen Lindquists «Many Thousand Gone» (2017) har sitt utgangspunkt i amerikansk-norske Lindquists reaksjon på den stadig pågående flyktningkrisen. Verket er respektfullt stille og reflekterende, med fragmenter av «Vi har en tulle» og spiritual-en «Many Thousand Gone» flettet inn over en dronebasert cellostemme.

Lie fremfører den med innlevelse og skaper en interessant følelse av uklar avsender: Dette kan være et tenkt flyktningperspektiv, et trygt (amerikansk-)norsk perspektiv, eller en slags allvitende forteller – eller alle tre. Denne ambivalensen er fin, fordi den gjør at stykket unngår å falle i de de klamme kategoriene moralisering, survivors’ guilt og skjønnmaling av egen sorg på andres vegne. Lindquist selv beskriver stykket som en «historie for cello og stemme, fortalt fra en mors perspektiv, idet hun husker» – knyttet til Lindquists egen erfaring av å være småbarnsmor. Men det er en snever beskrivelse. Lie gjør at tolkningene forblir åpne – i et landskap som er både resignert og lengselsfullt på én gang.

SilenceAndSound, 3. sept. 2020, Roland Torres (read full review)

”Marianne Baudouin Lie transporterer sansene våre i bredden av en visceral merkelighet, slurk av glide og melodiøse pust som danser mellom de skjøre linjene i samtidsmusikk…. bringer klimarikdom og territorial åpenhet, og bringer celloen ut av franchisesonen, for å eksperimentere på siden av en jazz fylt med ukjente. Veldig sterkt anbefalt.”

“…Very highly recommended.”

 

Nettavisen, 13. sept. 2020, Tor Hammerø (read full review)

Anmeldelse: Marianne Baudouin Lie – «Atlantis, Utopia and Ulvedrømmer»

“Den høyst originale og personlige cellisten, og denne gang også vokalisten, Marianne Baudouin Lie, har fått strålende komponisthjelp til å ta oss med til helt nye steder.”

“På dette visittkortet har Baudouin Lie fått de fem sjelsfrendene Ellen Lindquist, Eirik Hegdal, Stine Sørlie, Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje og Lene Grenager til å skrive musikk for seg. Fem sterke personligheter som har gitt Baudouin Lie fem ganske så varierte utfordringer.”

 

Audiophile, 20. sept. 2020, Karl Erik Sylthe (read full review)

Marianne Baudouin Lie – Atlantis, Utopia & Wolf Dreams: Norwegian innovative cello music

About Many Thousand Gone: “It is a rather fascinating exploration of sounds and sound surfaces that recur in the compositions, and it is also reflected in the use of vocals. Here we occasionally get clear quotes from folk music, such as Vi har en Tulle (We have a Tulle)…, but at the same time in a completely new form that is not intended as a traditional performance of these melodic quotes, but more as a sound surface in interaction with the cello. A rather innovative and fascinating approach.”
“Atlantis, Utopia & Ulvedrømmer is a great release, both musically and when it comes to sound quality. ”

 

Den klassiske Cd-bloggen, 27. sept. 2020, Trond Eriksen (read full review)

En stemme, en cello og en utforskertrang

“På denne innspillingen møter vi musikk av Ellen Lindquist (f. 1970), Eirik Hegdal (f. 1972), Stine Sørlie (f. 1978), Maja Ratkje (f. 1973) og Lene Grenager (f. 1969). Musikk spenner vidt. Vi møter den aggressive klangen, den kontrasterende rytmen, den gjentagende tonen, den vakre melodi, den utfordrende klangkaskade og en god dose musikalsk sjarm, humor og inderlighet. Selv etter en rekke runder i cd-spilleren blir jeg fortsatt fascinert av dette fine og utfordrende samspillet mellom komponister og utøver dette må ha vært.”

 

Musikkritikk.no, 17. nov. 2020, Magnus Andersson (read full review here)

Syngende cellist

“Først ut er amerikansk-nederlandske Ellen Lindquist, som til daglig holder til i Trondheim der hun både komponerer og underviser i komposisjon. Lindquist bruker folkemelodier og historier hun har fra media og venner som er flyktninger. Verket, Many Thousand Gone, vever sammen en amerikansk spiritual – verkets tittel – med Margrethe Munthes Vi har ei tulle.

Det begynner med en stille og skjønn melodi på celloen, der det nesten er vanskelig å få tak i grunntonene, fordi den spiller så kraftig på overtoner, som noen ganger slår ut i det lyse registret, og andre ganger finner fotfeste i mørke klanger. Disse klangene blir til tider langt mer komplekse, med raske løp over instrumentets strenger i et flerstemt spill, som både er basert på strengenes forskjellige toner, men også på hvordan de enkelte tonene splitter seg i klangen. Den grunnleggende stemningen er imidlertid ro og en kald skjønnhet.

Over dette synger Baudouin Lie ettertenksomme melodier, som om de kom fra en annen tid enn vår. Verket har et lett kontrasterende avsnitt midt i verket, der klangene bygger mer på klimprelyder. Helheten er en vakker opplevelse, der Lindquist gir cellisten mulighet til å lage lange linjer og spenn, som fenger gjennom hele de 15 minuttene verket varer.”

 

Nieuwe Noten, 17. januar 2021, Ben Taffijn (read full review here)
“Op dit ‘Atlantis, Utopia and Ulvedrømmer’ gaat ze nadrukkelijk op zoek naar de wisselwerking tussen cello en de menselijke stem, die overigens qua klank opvallend dicht bij elkaar liggen. Het album begint met ‘Many Thousands Gone’ van Lindquist, dat deze componiste baseerde op een oude gospel uit de slaventijd. Duistere, krachtig gespeelde frases, zowel gestreken als pizzicato gespeeld, worden hier afgewisseld met zang, waarbij Lindquist ook nog variatie aanbrengt in het volume. Een intens stuk waarin deze celliste prima de impact van zinnen als: “No more slavery chains for me | Many thousand gone | No more children stole from me | No more, no more” weet te verklanken.”

EDVARD-pris nominert!

I was thrilled that my piece The Sacredness of Trees for carillon was nominated for Norway’s prestigious EDVARD-prize, in the category Contemporary Music! What an honor! The Nordic Music Days Festival (2019 in Bodø) commissioned the piece for the festival (thanks to support from The Norwegian Composers Fund), and carillonneur Vegar Sandholdt played it each day of the festival in the tower of Bodø Cathedral in November 2019. Vegar has been invited to perform the piece also at Nordic Music Days in April 2021, in Torshavn in the Faroe Islands, how wonderful!
More info

Kammen (The Ridge): 17 August 2019

Join us in Stadsbygd on the Fosen Peninsula for a evening musical hike up to the ridge overlooking the Trondheim fjord. I and two other composers, Daniel Ott (Berlin) and Marthe Belsvik Stavrum (Selbu) have created music for the woods and high open spaces above Gamle Helset Farm.

More information here!

New piece for Michael Frances Duch

My new piece for Michael Frances Duch, Being in this Green Space, was premiered on 11 April 2019, at Galleri KiT in Trondheim. For solo contrabass and recorded birdsong, with film projections by Jeremy Walsh. Thanks to the Composers’ support fund for commission funding!

New piece for Nordic Music Days 2019

Very pleased to be asked to write a new piece for the opening of the 2019 edition of Nordic Music Days, which will take place in Bodø, in November 2019. I will write a new piece for the Bodø Cathedral carillon, with 50 beautiful bells cast in Asten, the Netherlands at Royal Eijsbouts, one of the oldest and most respected bell makers in the world. The commission is funded by the Norwegian Composers’ Fund.

Website rebuild!

My website is being redesigned, so the current content is minimal. Please contact me with any questions or requests.

ellen@ellenlindquist.com

10-14 October: KVAST 10-year anniversary Festival!

Much fine music to be heard in Stockholm, October 10-14 at Konserthuset, in celebration of the 10th anniversay of KVAST (Swedish women composers’ organization)!
I am honored that Göteborg’s outstanding flute quartet 40F will perform a my quartet ‘Mot blått‘ (Towards Blue) for 2 alto and 2 bass flutes, which they commissioned in 2016 (with funding from the Swedish Arts Council). The concert is Sunday 14 Oktober at 13:00 in Grünewaldsalen, also with music of four fine composers: Malin Bång, Anna Eriksson, Madeleine Isaksson and Ida Lundén. Playing in 40f: Anna Svensdotter, Ann Elkjär, Jill Widén, Åsa Karlberg.

40F flute quartet

Looking forward to the whole weekend, and looking forward to seeing some familiar faces!

Full program here.

 

Statens kunstnerstipend

I am so honored to have received a 4-year composition grant (Statens Kunstnerstipend), from Arts Council Norway! What an amazing opportunity to focus even more deeply on my work. Thank you!

 

Mantra, for gamelan and sinfonietta

My piece Mantra, for gamelan and sinfonietta, was released by BIS Records in October 2018!

Recorded by Trondheim Sinfonietta at Kimen Kulturhus (Stjørdal, Norway)
Kai Grinde Myrann, conductor
Espen Aalberg, gamelan

I am very pleased to share Trondheim Sinfonietta’s 20th-anniversary album with three fine composers:  Toshio Hosohawa, Bent Sørensen and Kristin Norderval.

Mantra was commissioned by Espen Aalberg, and funded by Arts Council Norway (Norsk Kulturråd). This album is supported by The Norwegian Society of Composers, the Fund for Performing Musicians (FFUK) and Kimen Kulturhus.

‘Recommended’ by MusicWeb International:
Seemingly disparate works, all enjoyable, but Lindquist’s gamelan concerto is a revelation.
“…While all of these pieces demonstrate their composers’ capacity for imaginative instrumental colours and deserve focused, concentrated listening, I have to say that I found Ellen Lindquist’s gamelan concerto Mantra to be one of those rare experiences which offered something completely different; music of integrity and humility yet rich in adventure and daring in its ambition.  In this magnificent performance by these Norwegian musicians, and in superb BIS surround sound, it completely blew me away.”
Richard Hanlon (read full review)

CD Review from Expresso (Portugal’s leading weekly newspaper):
“…Ellen Lindquist’s “Mantra” feels practically restorative: scored for gamelan, and thirteen exquisitely (re)tuned instruments, the work is a marvelous showcase of ingenuity and sensitivity, without any superfluous bric-a-brac and cheap, thrift store chinoiserie. It has a very charming, ecumenical innocence and the sort of spontaneity someone like Steiner would refer to as extraterritorial – built with concentric, ethereal patterns, albeit spectacularly telluric, a geologist would describe it as a beautiful Liesegang ring made of soluble salts. Actually, it sounds as the very salt of life.” (translated from the Portuguese)
—João Santos

Listen to Mantra on Spotify

Here is a short film about the project made by Alice Winnberg, followed by a short documentary made for NTNU Institute for Music by Martin Kristoffersen:

Dokumentar om «Mantra»

Program Notes (by Nick Breckenfield, from BIS CD booklet):

Mantra has a title that in itself indicates its eastern
inspiration, specifically the unique sound-world of Indonesia’s gamelan orchestra,
with its constituent parts of not only a series of distinctive chiming instruments
(metallophones, xylophones, gongs etc.), but also bowed, plucked instruments and
drums, which dates back to the Indonesian Majapahit Empire (1293–c. 1500).
Anyone who has experienced a traditional all-night Indonesian shadow-puppet
show, a wayang kulit, will testify to the mesmeric quality of the repetitive music.
Mantra (2016) was jointly commissioned by the performers on this world pre –
mière recording, the percussionist and gamelan player Espen Aalberg and the
Trondheim Sinfonietta, with support from Arts Council Norway. It was first per –
formed at the Trondheim Open festival on 11th November 2016. Having made par –
ticular study of the overtone sequences of the Indonesian instru ments, Lindquist
has retuned the Sinfonietta’s instruments to chime (forgive the pun) with those of
the gamelan. Over an extended soundscape and at an almost-exclusively slow
tempo, Mantra subtly revels in ever-changing intonation, con juring almost a fourth
dimension that seems to stretch back in time.
Lindquist explains: ‘In traditional Indonesian gamelan music, it was believed
that the soul of the entire gamelan was found in the gong ageng, the lowest (and
usually largest) of the hanging gongs, which was said to be used to summon the
gods. More complex messages could be sent with the gamelan’s other hanging
gongs. Mantra was inspired by this concept, and the piece was built using spectral
analysis of the six large hanging gongs in the instrument collection. The soloist in
Mantra plays many different gamelan instruments, and some material for the piece
was developed in an improvisation-based process.
‘The word mantra comes originally from Sanskrit; a simple idea (a word, sound
or phrase) repeated over and over, used to enter a meditative state, the very repeti –
tion aiding concentration. In Mantra this concept exists fractally on several different
overlapping layers of time, manifesting as everything from a single event, to a short
phrase, to the solo gong melody stretched over the length of the piece.’
Lindquist’s score looks deceptively standard: single winds – although unusually
it is the low wind instruments (cor anglais, bass clarinet and double bassoon) that
join the flute – with horn, trumpet, trombone, harp and strings, in addition to the
gamelan player. Despite the visual cornucopia of actual instruments, the gamelan
is notated often on a single stave, occasionally two, with a written indication as to
which instrument – gangsa, Balinese reyong, Javanese reyong, siter, gong ageng
etc. – while the ensemble’s instrumental parts are suffused with pitch instructions
to match the gamelan.
As indicated by the devotional title, this is a 25-minute reverential hymn full of
subtle teeming detail and delicate instrumental partnerships, set off by the harp and
gamelan, out of which develops an important recurring quaver motif, beginning
and ending with a dotted quaver, as if the repeated mantra of the title. The medi –
tation is glacially slow, but more important is the opening instruction: ‘Still, ex –
pectant,’ as if the message is that we need to give ourselves the occasional elongated
time span to think calmly. The interaction between eastern and western instruments,
both unusual and also timeless, encourages us to do just that: to breathe deeply and
lose ourselves in an other-worldly soundscape to assuage the travails of the modern
world.

Upcoming solo piece for Michael Francis Duch

Looking forward to beginning work on a new solo piece for contrabassist Michael Francis Duch!

Funded by Komponistenes vederlagsfond.

Recording with MSR Classical Records

By the end of 2018, Mariana Gariazzo‘s debut CD Revelations will be released by MCR Classics. The album consists of contemporary, unaccompanied music for alto and bass flute, including my piece Nakoda.

Recording of Nakoda with Redshift Records

I’m very pleased to announce that flutist Mark Takeshi McGregor will record my amplified alto flute piece Nakoda on Redshift Records in 2017. He’ll also perform it on Redshift Music Society concerts in Vancouver, Canada. Looking forward!

Velkommen til Huskonsertene i Rissa • Welcome to House Concerts in Rissa!

Click here to learn more…

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Alpaca Ensemble spiller Ellen Lindquist: nattkonsert på Trefestivalen i Trondheim

tre_bakgrunnTorsdag 25. september • kl. 22.30
Gulbrygga, 27 Kjøpmannsgata • Trondheim, Norge

Under Holzbau Nordic konferansen presenterer Trondheim kommune og Trefestivalen Trondheims Alpaca Ensemble, som spiller en spesiell nattkonsert som avslutning av Trefestivalen.

På programmet er flere av solo- og kammerverkene mine for en trio av treinstrumenter…cello, klarinett og marimba. Konserten finnes sted i Gulbrygga, en av de fine gamle trebryggene ved Nidelven. Velkommen!

Alpaca Ensemble

Marianne Baudouin Lie • cello
Rik de Geyter • klarinett
Anders Kristiansen • marimba

Biljetter ved inngangen: 100 nok

Program Trefestival

English:
The Holzbau Nordic Wood Building Conference and the city of Trondheim present Trondheim’s Alpaca Ensemble, who will play a special night concert as the closing event for the Wood Festival. On the program are solo and chamber works by American composer Ellen Lindquist (living in Norway) for a trio of wooden instruments…cello, clarinet and marimba. The concert will take place in Gulbrygga, one of the beautiful old wooden warehouse buildings downtown along the Nidelven river. Welcome!

Vlaams Sinfonietta premieres ‘Folk Songs’ on October 3

Vlaams Sinfonietta with Olga Romanko, soprano
Raf de Keninck, conductor

The Vlaams Sinfonietta has commissioned me and 4 other composers to compose new pieces based on folk songs from our respective countries. The project is inspired by Luciano’s 1964 piece titled ‘Folk Songs’, a cycle of 11 songs based on folk songs from different countries, which will also be on the program. Premiere on October 3. More information here.

Vlaams Sinfonietta o.l.v. Raf De Keninck
M.m.v. Olga Romanko, sopraan

In 1964  schreef Luciano Berio zijn “Folk Songs”: een cyclus van elf liederen, deels bestaande volksliederen die in een eigentijds ritmisch en harmonisch jasje gestoken werden, deels nieuwe composities, geïnspireerd op volksmuziek uit Sardinië, Armenië, de USA,…

Een zevenkoppig ensemble becommentarieert de melodie van de mezzo-sopraan.

Vlaams Sinfonietta trekt dit idee open naar de multiculturele realiteit van onze samenleving. Componisten uit de landen van herkomst van veel van onze “nieuwe Belgen” gaan aan de slag met volksliederen uit het land waar hun roots liggen: Nederland, Griekenland, Koerdistan, USA, Turkije.

Alpaca Ensemble Plays Ellen Lindquist

Friday 4 april • 1 p.m. • Rein kirke • Rissa • Norge: Opening of KULMIN
Saturday 26 april • 3 p.m. • Huskonsert i Rissa  more information
Sunday 27 april • 1 p.m. • Ilen kirke • Trondheim  more information

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Flute quartet for 40F

I’m looking forward to a brand-new project for flute quartet with Göteborg’s fantastic 40F! Premiere will be in 2016…will post more info as it comes.

Birds

Photo by Hans Falklind

Cecilia Ekmark commissioned me (thanks to generous funding from Statensmusikverk) to write a new piece for flute(s) and piano (Roger Johansson), inspired both by Hans Falklind‘s bird photographs and birdsong, for her ongoing project called Birds. This project is also supported by Sveriges ornitologiska förening (SOF) and BirdLife International. We met twice in Göteborg to develop material through improvisation, which I have now used as raw material to create the piece. Tomas Tranströmer’s early poem ‘Preludium’ is woven throughout the piece, which is titled ‘Vingarna breddas’ (‘The Wings Spread’). The project premiered 26 May 2013 in Gothenburg’s 3.e Våningen.

Watch video about project BIRDS

Watch BIRDS trailer

drömseminarium (dreamseminar)


Félix Pastor and Michael Douglas Jones, Västerås Konserthus, Sweden. Photo by by Henny Linn Kjellberg.

drömseminarium / dream seminar is a new piece of music-theater based on the texts of contemporary Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer and music of American composer Ellen Lindquist, produced by Companion Star, and developed collaboratively by an international company of musicians and artists.


drömseminarium creates an environment in which the spaces between the real and unreal elements of life are bridged, an important theme that appears throughout Tranströmer’s work. It is bilingual, mixing Tranströmer’s original Swedish with English translations (Robin Fulton). The cast of drömseminariumincludes two singer/actors and twelve instrumentalist/actors. A highly unique aspect of the piece is that all players, instrumentalists and singers alike, are characters in the piece, and also movers (with coaching from Swedish choreographer Helena Högberg). Set design by ceramic artist Henny Linn Kjellberg is a central element of the piece. Costume design is by Camille Assaf, and lighting design by Torkel Skjærven. Directed by Patrick Diamond. drömseminarium is a large-scale work, roughly 75 minutes in length, and is slated to premiere in September 2014 in Sweden.

Watch a video about the making of drömseminarium

Listen to music from drömseminarium:
Längre in:

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Romanska Bågar:

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Listen to an interview with Ellen about drömseminarium:

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Resources:

drömseminarium

Companion Star

YouTube

dream seminar Facebook page

Skogensemble

Skogensemble is an international ensemble of musicians dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music by composers from Nordic countries and from composers whose heritage is bound to those cultures. Skogen, which has its roots in Icelandic and Old Norse, is a Scandinavian word meaning “the forest”.

Read more »

Porcelain Percussion

A research project carried out during a collaborative residency with ceramic artist Henny Linn Kjellberg (Sweden) and percussionist Birgit Løkke (Denmark) at the International Ceramic Research Center in Skælskør, Denmark. Read more »

The Zoco Duo

I am writing a new piece for the Zoco Duo (Barcelona, Spain):

Laura Karney, oboe and English horn
Jacob Cordover, guitar

 

The Musicians’ Alliance for Peace

The Musicians’ Alliance for Peace (MAP) existed from 2001-2007 as an active group of musicians concerned with the role that music can play in creating momentum towards a more peaceful world. Read more »