Ellen Lindquist (b. 1970). The music of American-Dutch composer Ellen Lindquist has been performed throughout the world.

Lindquist finds inspiration in the discovery of unique sound-worlds and thrives on collaboration, with dance, theatre, poetry, visual art, performance art and devised music theatre — such as För levande och döda, a staged work for fifteen musicians based on the poetry of Nobel laureate Tomas Tranströmer. In För levande och döda, which was developed in a non-hierarchical and multidisciplinary process, the musicians are the characters and movers, and the set designer is a ceramic artist (working mostly in porcelain, for example with sounding porcelain plates which we developed together).

Ellen’s work has been performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, The United Nations, The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine (New York) and Konserthuset (Stockholm). Previous commissions range from solo and chamber music pieces to works for choir and orchestra. Newer work is often site-specific/site-sensitive work in the landscape, such as the collaborative work “Trehagen” (2022) which was created in Reins kloster forest (idea: Ellen Lindquist and Ingrid Becker), for Trondheim Voices, percussionists Tor Andreas Haugerud and Owen Weaver, with woven art of Ingrid Becker and ceramic instruments by Tovelise Røkke-Olsen.

Ellen is currently working on a commission for the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. Her work is published by Norsk Musikforlaget, Marimba Productions, Inc. and Apple Mountain Music Press (ASCAP), and Lindquist is a member of The Norwegian Society of Composers.

Lindquist received her BA in composition from Middlebury College, Vermont, and both her MA and PhD in composition from New York’s Stony Brook University, where she has also taught. Lindquist has taught at Sweden’s Gotland School of Music Composition and ESMUC (Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona), and since 2013 has taught regularly as Associate Professor at Trondheim’s NTNU Institute of Music (2019-2020 she was Composer-in-Residence). She runs a house-concert series (“Huskonsertene I Indre Fosen”) in the region where she lives with her family on the Fosen peninsula, near Trondheim, Norway. A deep respect for and love of the natural world is reflected in her work.

På norsk:

Ellen Lindquist (f. 1970). Musikken til den amerikansk-nederlandske komponisten Ellen Lindquist har blitt fremført over hele verden. 

Lindquist finner inspirasjon i oppdagelsen av unike lydverdener og trives med samarbeid, med dans, teater, poesi og performancekunst. 

Ellens verk har blitt fremført på arenaer som Carnegie Hall, FN, The Cathedral Church of St John the Divine (New York) og Konserthuset (Stockholm). Tidligere oppdrag spenner fra solo- og kammerverk til kor- og orkesterverk. Nyere prosjekter er gjerne site-specific/site-sensitive verk i landskapet, som for eksempel den tverrfaglig samarbeid Trehagen (2022) som var laget til Reins kloster skogen, for Trondheim Voices, perkusjonistene Tor Andreas Haugerud og Owen Weaver, flettekunst av Ingrid Becker og keramisk slagverk av Tovelise Røkke-Olsen.

Arbeidene hennes er utgitt av Norsk musikforlaget, Marimba Productions, Inc. og Apple Mountain Music Press (ASCAP), og Lindquist er medlem i Norsk komponistforeningen.

Lindquist fikk sin BA i komposisjon og piano fra Middlebury College, Vermont, og både sin MA og PhD i komposisjon fra New Yorks Stony Brook University, hvor hun også har undervist. I tillegg har Lindquist undervist på Gotland School of Music Composition i Sverige, og har siden 2013 undervist regelmessig som førsteamanuensis ved Trondheims NTNU Institute of Music. Hun bor med familien på Fosen-halvøya, nær Trondheim, hvor hun har også skapt huskonsertserien “Huskonsertene i Indre Fosen”. En dyp respekt for og kjærlighet til den naturlige verden gjenspeiles i hennes arbeid