By Olesya Ilenok
By Siyao Li
Press: Scotsman New Found Sound Artist Of the Week - Sonia Killmann February 2022
Short Summary
I am a saxophone player, electronic musician, and audiovisual artist whose practice is deeply influenced by interdisciplinary work and collaborative processes. More recently, I have been exploring the relationship between sound and environment and have been inspired by Pauline Oliveros' ideas of collective listening and sonic meditation. Being a Cryptic Artist, I work primarily as an electronic and multimedia composer and strive to create immersive experiences for audiences. Over recent years I have collaborated with poets such as Imogen Stirling, theatre companies such as Vanishing Point, Scottish Ballet dancers and local directors. My work is based on improvisational processes from which I create live audiovisual shows, sound art and scores. In 2024, I collaborated with immersive artist Laura Mannelli on Umweltraum(a), an interactive multi-speaker installation that was supported by Cryptic Glasgow, Kultur lx and Cove Park. I started my PhD in immersive performance and its impact on mental well-being in September 2025 with Seán Clancy at UCD.
Detailed Artist Biography
As a saxophone player, electronic musician, and audiovisual artist, Sonia has performed across the UK and Europe and has recently been nominated for Best Electronic Artist 2022 at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards. Their works are largely inspired by composers such as Pauline Oliveros, Colin Stetson and Alvin Lucier and explore the relationship between sound and environment through audiovisual soundscapes. Sonia has been collaborating with dancers, theatre makers and visual artists from France, Germany and Belgium after graduating with a master's in composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where Sonia studied with Dr Linda Buckley. Sonia is now working with supervisor Seán Clancy on a PhD in immersive performance at UCD in Dublin. The composer is exploring the meaning of 'immersive' and its potential impact on the mental well-being of an audience through ensemble works and multimedia compositions.
Sonia has worked closely with Cryptic Glasgow as a Cryptic Artist since early 2022. Here, the composer's work ranges from creating ambient electronic music to classical music using acoustic instruments or electroacoustic compositions.
In 2024 Sonia created Umweltraum((a)) with immersive artist Laura Mannelli. The installation was part of Sonica 2024 and is inspired by Jakob von Uexküll's philosophy of Umwelt. The work depicts a world comprised of various sense-impressions, contrasting mechanical visuals with organic sounds, creating the impression of a live ecosystem.
In 2023, 2024 and 2025, Sonia completed a residency at EMS in Stockholm to implement modular synthesis in their practice and translate their work into spatial audio. In September 2024, she also embarked on a Scottish tour with Vanishing Point as the musician on stage for Imogen Stirling's https://vanishing-point.org/love-the-sinner.
Aside from being a solo artist, Sonia is also a versatile composer who flourishes during collaborative processes. Since 2022, Sonia has collaborated on an interdisciplinary level with dancers and theatre makers. In May 2023, they worked with Imogen Stirling and Vanishing Point on their show "Love The Sinner" as the musician on stage. Later, Sonia also composed the music for Imogen's show "The Boulders We Carry", which premiered at the Scottish Mental Health Festival in October that same year.
Sonia Killmann is interested in the conjunction of movement and sound and has worked with Ballet dancers, such as Constant Vigier, with whom Sonia worked on One Dance UK and BBC Dance Passion 2022. Simultaneously, the composer also worked with dancer and choreographer Jamie Laurence on his "Read Only Memory" ballet for Rubicon Dance Company, which premiered in September 2022 in Newport.
Being fluent in French, German and English, Sonia has collaborated with artists around Europe and premiered a second Edinburgh Fringe Festival show "Là-haut" in 2023 at the French Institute. The show was made possible through the receipt of the Queer To Stay artist bursary from the Shaper Caper dance company in Dundee.
In Sonia’s ambient duo Failed System Test, the composer uses coded visuals and Ableton Live to create an immersive experience through melodic saxophone playing and live digital processing of multiple mediums together with Aidan Lochrin.
Aside from creating visuals for live performances, Sonia also creates visuals for other sonic material and has collaborated with the Royal Northern Sinfonia on a classical concert at Sage Gateshead in November 2021 and March 2022. In March 2022, they performed alongside Annabelle Playe on Ad Astra with audio-reactive visuals in Cryptic's Sonica 2022 festival.
In addition, Sonia also teaches electronic music techniques and live visual coding to make electronic and audiovisual music more accessible. In January 2022 Sonia went on an artist's residency to teach workshops in visual coding and digital music making in Yekaterinburg (Russia) as part of a collaboration with the Pushkin Museum, British Council and Cryptic Glasgow. Sonia also programs concerts and volunteers with the sound art organisation Sound Thought which helps promote the work of local and emerging artists.
