Olga Witte Organism feat. Paal Nielssen-Love (DK)

Aarhus Unge Tonekunstnere Presents the World Premiere of Olga Witte's work Quantum Gravity.

Composer Olga Witte's music lies somewhere between experimental jazz and modern composition, and in this work, this is reflected not only in the music itself, but also in the musicians' backgrounds.

Olga Witte is an exciting and award-winning composer who has created what Jazznyt has described as her "completely unique and deeply original musical language.

In this work, Witte works with 10 different experimental and expressive wind players, some with a background in jazz and others in classical music. The ten fantastic wind players will stand around the audience, while the fabulous drummer Paal Nilssen-Love sits in the middle of the crowd. That way, the audience is surrounded by the music and feels like it's not happening in the room, but is the room itself.

In recent years, Olga Witte has been working on transforming physical theories into music. In doing so, she has delved deeper and deeper into the world of physics, including quantum gravity, on which this work is based. Theories of quantum gravity connect quantum physics with gravity as understood in Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. The transformations Olga makes in the work affect both the overall form, structure, and instrumentation of the work and the concrete elements of the music.

The sound and working methods of the music will be avant-garde art music, written at the exciting interface between composition and improvisation.  These approaches set the framework and give the musicians selected freedom. Witte integrates experimental jazz, modern composition music, and practices from Balinese gamelan, which she has an in-depth knowledge of through 1½ years of music ethnological fieldwork in Bali.

Paal Nielssen-Love has been one of the most prominent drummers in Europe for many years, performing countless times at festivals and clubs in Europe, the US, and other parts of the world, and recording over 50 albums. After playing with Paal Nielssen-Love, Pat Matheny exclaimed: "He is simply one of the best new musicians I've heard in recent years!" And after hearing Paal in nine different contexts at the same festival, Down Beat journalist Dan Quelette wrote: "His week at Molde proved a revelation: Nilssen-Love is one of the most innovative, dynamic, and versatile drummers in jazz!"

Olga Witte is a soloist-trained composer, jazz pianist, church organist, and music ethnologist with a focus on Balinese gamelan. She has written experimental works for various ensembles, from solo to big bands and other larger ensembles. In December 2021, Olga Witte released her critically acclaimed debut album Olga Witte Organ Trio No 1 + 2.

Olga Witte has received Denmark's oldest jazz award, the Gaffelprisen 2023, with the following motivation: "Olga's commitment, drive, and curiosity have taken both her and jazz far. She is one of today's musicians and arrangers
who are taking jazz forward." Olga Witte has received several working grants from both the Danish Arts Foundation and the Danish Composers' Society / KODA Kultur.

The following was written about Olga Witte's debut concert at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus (2023): "The work really wants to be heard, and you are embraced by the sensitivity, necessity, and warmth of the music. The concert hall is used to its full potential and the aspect of time is used as an essential device in a mature way, demonstrating great sense of form. The work uses improvisation, variation in frequency ranges, and dynamics to hold the listener's attention and carry the music forward in a captivating and enveloping experience. Olga Witte is a highly musical conductor who comes across as sharp and clear in her performance."

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