SOFA 603

ETIENNE NILLESEN – en

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“[…] en might just be the most revelatory snare drum solo you’ll ever hear.”
— Vito Camarretta, CHAIN DLK

“Simply remarkable.”
— Sarah Grosser, Free Jazz Blog

“[…] en marks an extraordinary milestone in Etienne Nillesen’s artistic journey.”
— Samuele Conficoni, MusicMap

“[…] once we let Nillesen cast his spell, an entire world opens up.”
— Peter Margasak, Nowhere Street

Etienne Nillesen’s practice emerges from a long-term engagement with the snare drum and its latent harmonic potential. He is a composer and sound artist redefining the snare drum as a harmonic instrument.

His music unfolds slowly through resonance, overtone interaction, and subtle shifting tones, creating immersive listening environments where harmony precedes rhythm and pulse emerges only as a secondary phenomenon.

Working with two snare drums tuned in close acoustic relation, he draws out sustained tones, dense harmonic textures, and pulsing interference patterns, transforming the instrument from a percussive device into a resonant sonic body.

Nillesen’s performances are shaped by real-time listening, to the instrument, the space, and the unfolding moment, allowing form to arise organically through sound itself.

This is music that resists categorization: neither percussive in the conventional sense, nor ambient, nor strictly composed. It is music of attention to sound, to silence, to the space in between.

Originally from the Netherlands, Nillesen lives in Cologne and teaches at the ArtEZ Academy of Music (Arnhem). His work has been presented internationally at festivals, museums, and contemporary music venues and has received broad critical acclaim.