Jakob Stillmark - Composer / Artistic Researcher

Music for me is an experimental and phenomenological inquiry into sound. My work explores how we listen – challenging everyday modes of perception and inviting listeners to engage deeply with the act of differentiation and reflection. Listening, for me, is more than a passive act; it is a practice of cultivating awareness, a means of connecting our inner imaginative world with the outer realities we inhabit. Through composition, I aim to develop and refine this practice, encouraging listeners to question not only how they listen but also how they relate to the world around them.

The scope of my work spans a wide array of forms and contexts, from orchestral compositions and chamber music to solo works, installations, and conceptual formats. I engage with electronics, spatialization, and multimedia setups, as well as traditional instrumental formats.

In my compositions I explore ways of forming polyphonic situations by creating multi-layered repetition structures that establish complex networks of musical memory. Therefore, I draw on specific techniques of listening found in sonic meditation or other contemplative practices and try to find ways of applying these within my compositional methods. I aim to create musical textures that embody a high degree of sensible differentiation which invites the audience to an engaged way of reflexive listening, rather than composing music that puts the listener in a passively conceiving state.

Looking ahead, I envision to solidify my interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship between polyphonic and contemplative practices. I aspire to collaborate with other musicians, artists, and researchers from fields such as neuroscience, cognitive science, religious studies, music theory, music history, anthropology, and philosophy. Together, I hope to delve into historical and contemporary perspectives on how polyphony has been and can be used as a tool in contemplative practice as well as in composition.

This interdisciplinary approach also informs my own compositional process. Reflecting on the possible connections to forms of thinking other than music is essential for me to situate my work within a broader cultural and intellectual context. I believe that engaging in such exchanges not only broadens my horizon but also enriches my musical imagination and sharpens my artistic expression.

Ultimately, my goal is to develop contemporary techniques of polyphony that resonate with the growing complexities of our time. I seek to explore intra-musical tools and methods that have the potential of becoming metaphorical for an approach of sounding out the growing diversity of voices in our increasingly interconnected world. By doing so, I hope to offer listeners spaces for reflection, connection, and transformation – spaces where music becomes a medium for understanding both ourselves and the world around us.