Biography

Madli Marje GILDEMANN

© DR

The music of Madli Marje Gildemann is inspired and influenced by her interest in biological processes and is a result of making those processes observable through sound, creating a unique sonic perspective.

Her musical inspirations have led her to explore various directions, such as ancient-Greek theatre, Estonian mythology and folklore and especially plant sentience.

In 2020, her interest in biology took a new turn towards data-sonification. She started attending courses in Acoustic Ecology and Environmental Listening at the Zurich University of Arts under the guidance of Marcus Maeder, who is known for his innovative methods for field recording and data collection, enabling us to listen into the hidden soundscapes inside trees, plants and soil. As an outcome of her own collection of field recordings, data and observations, one of her most known compositions, Osmosis was created (premiered by the Mondrian Ensemble). It became a catalyst to continue with this concept and create the trilogy Three Studies on Plant Biology.

In 2022, she composed the second part of the cycle : Transpiration for string orchestra, commissioned by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. In 2023, the trilogy was finished with the piece Photosynthesis as a commission from the Ensemble Synaesthesis.

Like Osmosis, Transpiration has also made its way into the repertoire of various string orchestras, festivals and in 2022, it achieved the 2nd place in the under-30 category at the Rostrum of Composers in Palermo.

Currently she’s completing her master studies at the Zurich University of the Arts in the film, theatre and media composition program. As a result of those studies she’s also actively creating music for theatre, dance, animation and installations, bringing together her backround as a concert music composer with different kinds of media and forms of expression.

 

Work(s)

" Three Studies on Plant Biology II “Transpiration" "

For String orchestra

“Transpiration” is the 2nd movement of the cycle “Three Studies on Plant Biology”. 
The source of inspiration in Transpiration was to depict the phenomenon of a plant transpiration, of water evaporating from the leaves into the atmosphere.
By translating different stages of transpiration into music, the listener is taken into a sonic journey, where he is able to experience and perceive what would normally be imperceptible to our senses.
Thus, the work follows the stages of the transpiration process: It starts out with the negative pressure that pulls water up from the roots through the xylem vessels (which, during a drought period in real life, can actually be heard in the form of plucking/popping sounds). This is followed by the gradual movement of the water towards the leaves and, finally, the sounds of the water escaping into the atmosphere in the form of water vapor.