L’Oriole · Bennardo / Svensson / Nillesen
Samstag, 17. Jänner 2026 · 20:00 Uhr
The trio of Maya Bennardo, Etienne Nillesen, and Kristofer Svensson presents an improvisation for violin, snare drums, and kacapi. Through close attunement and alignment of the instruments, the group has developed a new Just Intonation mode whose resonant relations delimit a shared harmonic field, guiding an exploration that extends from pitch into the spectrum and beyond it, through noise, decay, and silence. Drawing on both contemporary free improvisation and traditional modal approaches, the trio treats harmonic relations and timbral complexity with the same meditative focus. What emerges is music of ritual austerity and melodic lyricism. In 2025, the trio released their debut album, ‘For Violin, Snare & Kacapi’, on the kuyin label.
Maya Bennardo – violin
Kristofer Svensson – Kacapi
Etienne Nillesen – extended Snare Drum
Maya Bennardo is a performer and composer living in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a founding member of the violin/viola duo andPlay, described by I Care If You Listen as “enthusiastic champions for new music and collaboration”. She performs new and traditional repertoire for violin and piano with pianist Karl Larson in their Bennardo-Larson Duo and has previously been a member of the internationally renowned Mivos Quartet. She works closely with improvisers, Etienne Nillesen, Lisa Ullén, Erik Blennow-Calälv, and Kristofer Svensson where she explores subtle noise shifts, Justly tuned harmonies, and the close timbral relationships between instruments.
Etienne Nillesen is a snare drum player who pushes the boundaries of the instrument’s tonal and harmonic possibilities through innovative techniques and a meticulous approach to sound. By employing circular motions and precise control of contact points, he draws out an extensive range of pitches, harmonics, and overtones from the drumhead. His work reimagines the snare drum as a complete sonic entity, transforming it from a percussive instrument into a rich source of melodic and harmonic material. His interest in diverse forms of music and art has given him the opportunity to work alongside artists and composers such as Nate Wooley, Axel Dörner, Christian Wolff, Ingar Zach, Sarah Davachi, Michael Thieke, Marta Warelis, Magda Mayas and Sofia Jernberg.
Kristofer Svensson is a kacapi musician and composer from Sweden. Svensson’s solo composition for justly tuned kacapi, Andra Segel, was released in 2020 on the kuyin label, and a trio album, two skies, with Maya Bennardo and Erik Blennow Calälv was released in 2022 on the thanatosis label. Svensson’s music has been performed by soloists and groups such as Miyama McQueen-Tokita, Quatuor Bozzini and the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, and at festivals such as MATA (US), Frequency Festival (US), and Edition Festival for Other Music (SE).
https://kuyin.bandcamp.com/album/for-violin-snare-kacapi
L’Oriole
Clara Levy – violin
Stéphane Clor – violoncello piccolo
and an orchestra of resonators and transducers
L’oriole mixes the string colors from the violin and cello with a timbral mechanism made of transducers set on sounding bodies. The sound of the acoustic instruments vibrates through different materials, offering new possibilities of colors and textures drawn from these suspended resonators. Eery and acute, the music thus flutters in long contemplative flights and sometimes condensate in clouds of screams and raw materials.
L’Oriole sur Radio France dans l’émission A l’Improviste d’Anne Montaron (octobre 2024)
https://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/podcasts/a-l-improviste/duo-l-oriole-7378682
https://soundcloud.com/loriole/sets/loriole-clara-levy-stephane