Press: Scotsman New Found Sound Artist Of the Week - Sonia Killmann February 2022
Sonia Killmann is an international composer and multi-media artist from Belgium. As a saxophone player, electronic musician, and audiovisual artist, she has performed across the UK and Europe and has recently been nominated for best electronic artist 2022 at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards. Sonia’s works are largely inspired by composers such as Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith 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 currently also working closely with Cryptic Glasgow as a Cryptic Artist. Sonia’s work ranges from creating ambient electronic music to classical music using acoustic instruments or electroacoustic compositions.
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, she worked with Imogen Stirling and Vanishing Point on their show "Love The Sinner" as the musician on stage. Sonia is also interested in the conjunction of movement and sound and worked with Ballet dancers, such as Yasmine Naghdi and Constant Vigier, with whom she worked on One Dance UK and BBC Dance Passion 2022 and created the Fringe Show "Bamboozled" (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 is premiering her second Edinburgh Fringe show "Là-haut" in 2023 at the French Institue this year.
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. In 2022, the duo performed across Scotland, including their own sold-out ambient music night at the Glad Café and a sold-out show at Tramway at Cryptic's Sonica as part of the Next-Gen Youth Music scheme, supported by PPL and PRS.
Aside from creating her own visuals for her 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 with the aim 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. Sonia is also influenced by her queer identity, which resulted in Sonia’s recent receipt of the Queer To Stay artist bursary from the Shaper Caper dance company in Dundee.
