Widely recognised for her engaging and highly imaginative compositional voice, Pernille Louise Sejlund continues to push musical boundaries while staying playful, open and versatile.
Pernille Louise Sejlund uses the term ‘avantgarde light’ as well as minimalism to describe her creative output which embraces works for concert hall, film, theatre and dance, as well as music written for herself as a performer. She welcomes a collaborative and accessible approach to music-making that challenges traditional paradigms of composer/performer relationships and audience interaction.
Her works encompass a sense of presence and intimacy, often with meditative elements, and evoke vivid imagery of an almost cinematic nature, whether that is weightless soap bubbles floating in space (Bubbles, 2010), a slumbering whale murmuring at the bottom of the ocean (Moby Dick, 2007) or the dark silence of Earth’s core (Calling Earth, 2016).
Concerned by the realities of global warming, Sejlund has created bold musical responses to climate change since the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, including her current climate lecture concert series ‘Time for Reflection’ with climate expert Jesper Theilgaard. As a singer, she performs regularly with pianist and composer Rune Thorsteinsson.
Recent commissioners include Copenhagen Phil, Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen, Danish Chamber Players, FIGURA Ensemble, Ensemble Nordlys, Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen, Michala Petri, The Danish National Girls’ Choir and Danish Piano Duo/Tanja Zapolski and Rikke Sandberg.
Pernille Louise Sejlund studied composition at The Royal Danish Academy of Music with teachers including Bent Sørensen, Niels Rosing-Schow and Juliana Hodkinson, as well as Karsten Fundal, Hans Abrahamsen and Hans Peter Stubbe Teglbjærg. She has received numerous grants, awards and residencies for her work as a composer since the beginning of her career, including the Léonie Sonning Talent Prize in 2014 and The Carl Prize in 2010, and her compositions have been selected for UNM in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark between 2008 and 2011.
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