Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

(1979-)

Composer and artist Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard considers his work to be a basic research in realities and he is interested in how bubble-like systems unfold themselves as human conditions. The meetings between the individual body and these different bubble-like systems are a key driver in Løkkegaard’s praxis and he is interested in how to escape these bubbles, and if not escape them, then how they can be warped, wrestled and renegotiated.

Løkkegaard often works with music instruments not only as sources of sound but also as cultural markers embedded within different systems and hierarchies. This driving force in Løkkegaard’s work has led to compositions that can be performed by musicians and non-musicians alike – all revolving around the focus on how to create a safe environment for performing music, and dissolve any shame or trauma connected with a particular music instrument and the act of performing music in general.

Since 2012 Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard has experimented with creating music that lets the instruments transcend their inherent sonic norms and reappear in another form. In the work series SOUND × SOUND (2013–2017) he explores this by way of multiplication with a series of works multiplying one instrument a number of times: One piece is written for 9 pianos, another for 18 clarinets, 10 hi-hats and so on.

In recent years Løkkegaard explores the multiplication of sound even further in pieces such as Triangular Mass – for multiple triangles (2016), Birdsongs – for multiple parabolic microphones (2019), SONAR – for multiple vibraslaps (2018), Harmonia – for multiple harmonicas (2018) and Quartet pour Sigurd Raschér – for 4 alto saxophones (2019).

The process of multiplication brings out new timbral phenomena through the interference of sound waves and vibrations, and highlights what Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard calls the “sound’s potential of transformation”. He describes this as the quality in a musical piece when you no longer hear recognizable instruments, but instead the overall sound – when the individual musician is dissolved into the collective sound.

A sonic as well as human synthesis.

He explains the concept of this sound as follows:

Imagine you enter a room with vibrant acoustics, such as a cafe full of people having conversations, and when you’re close to those conversations you hear the language and understand the words. If you step away from the tables, however, and stand in the doorway, you begin to lose the ability to distinguish the words from one another. Now instead of hearing the individual conversations, all the conversations melt together, and transform into a one new sound. A sound of people without words and language. Just as when you hear a group of geese squawk, or the wind in tree tops, a kind of nature given sound of people. Once the language is dissolved and the words stop making sense, what is left, is the sound.

The work of NLL has been presented at a variety of different venues and museums such as MoMA (NY – as a part of the René Magritte exhibition The Mystery of the Ordinary), York Art Gallery, Imaginary West Indies (Overgaden Copenhagen), ISCM (Vancouver), Radiophrenia (Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts), CPH:DOX (Copenhagen), Roskilde Festival (DK), Harpa (Reykjavik), G((o))ng Tomorrow Festival (Copenhagen), Nordic Music Days (Norway), Akusmata (SF, 2020) and his works has been released on labels such as Topos (DK), Archive Officielle (CA) and Important Records (US). NLL is associate professor at RMC in Copenhagen, and has given lectures at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), The Royal Danish Academy of Music, Artistic Research Forum (N), Goldsmiths University of London a.o.p. NLL has been awarded several prizes, a.o. from the Danish Art Foundation, the Sonning Foundation and Prix Ars Electronica.

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard was educated at the RMC in Copenhagen and the School of Architecture at The Royal Danish Academy of Art.

Available Works

  1. SOUND X SOUND - Music for 8 Recorders

    2014 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    7+ Instruments

    5 minutes

    8 soprano recorders

  2. Personfølsom Musik / U793-984-537

    2021 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    Solo

    29 minutes

    Pipe organ

  3. SOUND X SOUND - Music for 16 Triangles

    2016 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    7+ Instruments

    15 minutes

  4. SOUND X SOUND - Music for 15 Shakers

    2016 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    7+ Instruments

    10 minutes

  5. SOUND X SOUND - Music for 9 Pianos

    2015 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    7+ Instruments

    8 minutes

    9 pianos

  6. SOUND X SOUND - Music for 8 Recorders

    2014 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    7+ Instruments

    6:20 minutes

    8 alto recorders

  7. Towards a Major Third

    2016 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    2-6 Instruments

    10 minutes

    for oboe, clarinet and two violins

  8. SOUND X SOUND - Music for 30 Chromatic Tuners

    2014 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    7+ Instruments

    14 minutes

    30 Chromatic Tuners

  9. SOUND X SOUND - Music for 18 Clarinets

    2016 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    7+ Instruments

    18 minutes

    18 Bb Clarinets

  10. SOUND X SOUND - Music for 10 Hi-Hats

    2016 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    7+ Instruments

    10 minutes

    10 hi-hats

  11. Disruptions

    2016 • Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    2-6 Instruments

    10:22 minutes

    for saxophone quartet and 4 floor fans




Advanced works search

News

  1. Work Grants from the Danish Arts Foundation 2023

    nominations / awards

    Work Grants from the Danish Arts Foundation 2023

  2. Great reviews for Løkkegaard's Colliding Bubbles

    reviews

    Great reviews for Løkkegaard's Colliding Bubbles

  3. Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard World Premiere

    general

    Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard World Premiere

  1. Nordic Music Days 2022

    general

    Nordic Music Days 2022

  2. Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard - Personfølsom musik

    general

    Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard - Personfølsom musik

  3. Honorary Mention · Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    nominations / awards

    Honorary Mention · Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

  4. Significant work grants for Edition·S composers

    nominations / awards

    Significant work grants for Edition·S composers

  5. Significant grants for Edition·S composers 2020

    general

    Significant grants for Edition·S composers 2020

  6. Nordic Music Days 2019

    general

    Nordic Music Days 2019

  7. Nordic Music Days 2019

    general

    Nordic Music Days 2019

  8. Edition·S composers at Dark Music Days

    general

    Edition·S composers at Dark Music Days

  9. Reviews from G((o))ng Tomorrow 2018

    general

    Reviews from G((o))ng Tomorrow 2018

  10. Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard composes for gold

    general

    Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard composes for gold

  11. Solo exhibition by Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    general

    Solo exhibition by Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

  12. 1000 recorders and drawn sound

    general

    1000 recorders and drawn sound

  13. Significant work grants for Edition·S composers

    general

    Significant work grants for Edition·S composers

  14. Podcast and artist talk by Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

    general

    Podcast and artist talk by Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

  15. SOUND X SOUND film available online

    general

    SOUND X SOUND film available online

  16. Return of a non-event – Curatorium 2017

    general

    Return of a non-event – Curatorium 2017

  17. Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard at Roskilde Festival 2017

    general

    Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard at Roskilde Festival 2017

  18. SOUND X SOUND selected for ISCM 2017

    general

    SOUND X SOUND selected for ISCM 2017

  19. Danish Arts Foundation grants for Edition·S composers

    general

    Danish Arts Foundation grants for Edition·S composers

  20. Americans care if you listen to Løkkegaard

    general

    Americans care if you listen to Løkkegaard

Show More News

Calendar

  1. October 2022
  2. 15

    October

    Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard: Birdsongs

    time14:00

    location Nordic Music Days, Reykjavik, Iceland

    performed by -

  1. January 2023
  2. 19

    January

    Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard: Colliding Bubbles (surface tension and release)

    time19:30

    location Klub Katarakt, Hamburg, Germany

    performed by Quatuor Bozzini

  3. 22

    January

    Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard: Colliding Bubbles (surface tension and release)

    time19:30

    location Alice, Brorsons Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark

    performed by Quatuor Bozzini