Mette Nielsen often works with what she calls the almost unison or imperfect unison – a state of friction that opens up a space where small differences become clearer and micro-tones and sounds are made audible.
She embraces both chance and control as coexisting parameters. In one series of pieces the musicians receive instructions via iPods put on shuffle: the musicians receive instructions with the composer's voice directly in their ears, while at the same time a significant amount of control is relinquished as the shape of the piece is randomly created through the iPod's shuffle function.
Nielsen studied at The Danish Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus with Simon Steen-Andersen, Jeppe Just Christensen, Niels Rosing-Schow, Hans Abrahamsen, Bent Sørensen, and Hans Peter Stubbe-Teglbjærg.
Mette Nielsen received Pelle-Prisen, The Axel Borup-Jørgensen Composer's Prize, Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s Grant, the Anckerske Grant and a grant from Astrid and Aksel Agerby’s Memorial Foundation. Her music has been played by Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Adapter, Ensemble TM+, SCENATET, FIGURA Ensemble, Athelas Sinfonietta, Bulgarian female choir Usmifka among others.
Press photos:
Download high resolution photo by Soffi Chanchira Larsen
Download high resolution photo by Soffi Chanchira Larsen
Articles and reviews:
Interview Seismograf 05.06.2018
