Making sense of her intuition

– In the first meeting, I said that as a curator I will not be performing or have any involvement with the performances. That did not happen, says Wei Ting Tseng, laughing.

The concert she is talking about, Resonance / Resonate, will take place during Ultima (Oslo Contemporary Music Festival) 19 September. One of three curators, Wei Ting will also be performing a solo piece written for her and premiering a new piece of her own.

No less than five concerts are scheduled for the second-year FRIMA student this semester. One down, four to go.

– The first year I was really busy, participating in other people's projects. People here are very friendly and open minded, and sincerely curious, she says.

– There is still a lot going on, but this year I decided to focus more on my own things.

Trained as a classical cellist, the Taiwanese composer and performer was in Germany to audition for a master in classical music when her plans suddenly changed.

– I realised that I couldn’t see myself doing it anymore. I love classical music, but I didn’t find my place in that environment and mentality.

Instead, she decided to try something completely different, and went to Oslo to study economics. Though not to leave the cello behind.

– It gave me the opportunity to explore other genres. I started to work with art and collaborate with people who are interested in different types of expression, working with electronic setups and going more into jazz.

As a high school student, Wei Ting was very fascinated by Scandinavian jazz. Lucky, then, that her first time in Oslo happened to coincide with Oslo Jazzfestival.

– I ended up going to a concert with Eivind Aarseth and realised that this is the sound I listened to when I was fifteen! This is more like what I want to do.

This sparked her new main interest, both as a performer and a composer: Improvisation.

– To me, the most interesting period of classical music is from the 20^th century onward, which is also when jazz was forming. They have a lot in common, says Wei Ting.

She describes musical improvisation as something intuitive, yet structural. Like laying tiny elements of building materials onto the columns of a building. An architectural, sonic structure.

– It’s about subconsciously making sense of your intuition, she says.

Wei Ting believes that this structural way of thinking is something she brought with her from the classical training. And she got very curious about the relation between improvising musicians.

– I wandered how I can communicate better with my fellow players during improvisation. How to express my esthetical ideas. Not only in that one moment, but through the entire structure. That is the reason why I started to compose, she says.

– Through all these projects I want to show the different angles of my approach to composition and improvisation.

Speaking of concerts. Curated by three students, “Resonance / Resonate” presents a wide range of entirely new works by young composers, performed by young musicians.

Wei Ting will be performing the piece “Untangled”, by Elias Frisk and Pernille Grimsrud, and four percussionists will perform her own new piece, “A Posture of Attendance”.

Untangled has a graphic score, six metres long, so the cellist must move around while playing.

– It is challenging to balance the moving and the making of music. The cello isn’t usually considered to be a movable instrument, most of the time you have to sit down to play, says Wei Ting.

Her own piece, A Posture of Attendance, is based on three elements; space, improvisation and rotation. It is written for 3-7 same instruments, in this case performed by four vibraphones.

– The harmonies are based on acoustics, on the peak frequencies in the room. I have worked specifically with Levinsalen, through Tanja Orning’s cello Lab, but it can be performed anywhere, says Wei Ting.

She explains how her work in the art field, with site-specific installations and exhibitions, led to her interest in not just making sounds, but also in its surroundings and all the tiny elements that affect how we perceive information.

– How we relate to space has a lot to do with how we hear each other, how we can kind of feel the size of the room. Is it possible, through manipulating the overtones of the room, to make people feel the size of it change? That is the idea.

Next up is a duo concert with jazz pianist Fride Hjelle 18 October. Through free improvisation, and a compositional mindset, the two musicians explore how their different musical backgrounds meet.

– This is where I emphasize the collaborative part of my work, Wei Ting explains.

– We focus on the dynamics of harmonies, and where the meeting point of harmony building is when the chord progression is improvised. Is it possible to predict what the other person is going to do, harmonically?

Her solo concert 31 October is also freely improvised. But she is not working all by herself.

– As a musician you always try to make the most out of the space you are in, but you always need to compromise. For instance, it can be super challenging to play in a very dry room.

So, this time the collaboration happens between Wei Ting and the very room.

– I was thinking: Is it possible to work with the acoustic as an equal? I treat the space as a musical partner, she says.

– I am going to work with three different types of sound, through speakers, where the space itself is designed by adding reverb or delay or distortion. It will be different rooms of sound, a sonic building, while I am in the same physical space.

Wei Ting’s final concert, 11 November, is named after her composition As Silent as Bombs.

Wei Ting says the composition happened out of necessity. Coming from Taiwan, she has been observing the increased tension between Taiwan and China and how it relates to the world.

– I had a call from my brother in Taiwan, who had been summoned for emergency training. For war. It really freaked me out. Composing was a healing process for me, in a way, she says.

As Silent As Bombs is a data-based composition in three parts: “Overture” for solo cello, “Bang” for cello and bass clarinet, and finally “Whiteness”, for cello, bass clarinet and percussion. The first two premiered in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Whiteness is still a work in progress.

– Together, they describe the experience of a nuclear bomb. You feel it first, then you hear it, and then you are blinded. Everything goes white, Wei Ting explains.

The score of Overture is structured around the frequency of Chinese provocations around Taiwanese territory. Bang is based on the changes in military expenditure through the last decade, in countries like China, USA and Ukraine.

– I bring the data into the graphic score to see if it is possible to tell the story through music, in a way that you can’t do with texts. Music gives people a safe environment to talk about their fears and process trauma, wether they have seen war or just feel frightened. After I perform this piece, they come up to me and share from their experience, says Wei Ting.

– I usually explain the story behind the piece before I play it, but I am also interested in finding out what would happen if I didn’t. Would the listeners understand it the same way?