Martin Stauning

Originally educated and worked as a dancer at The Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen, Martin holds a Postgraduate Advanced Diploma (Soloist) in Composition from The Royal Danish Academy of Music. Martin has counted among his teachers Hans Abrahamsen, Bent Sørensen and Niels Rosing-Schow.

Martin writes for any combination of instruments, with or without electronics, as well as working in sound performance and installation. Martin has written incidental music for plays and music for dance and theatre.

Martin is also an active performer and has performed works by John Cage, Alvin Lucier, Jeppe Ernst and himself.

Written about Martin's music:

"Stauning's music is characterized by an exquisite material economy, and [it] conveys a distinctive poetic fragility."

“The highly concentrated material in Martin Stauning’s Verdorrte Räume(2015) hits us with great power. Rarely does one experience an avantgarde piece in which the ingredients are so few and almost boiled down to a kind of concentrate.”
Information

"The absurd also seems to appeal to Martin Stauning, as it appeared in his 'fragmented opera' At Night, Today. The characters 'The One' and 'The Other' statically sat opposite each other performing a little heated drama." Seismograf.org

"We remember with great pleasure Stauning in his own performance "Interventions" and wish that he will move even more into the theatrical world. We need a renewal of music drama!"
Seismograf.org

Until October 2014, Martin served as the chairman of UNM Denmark, the Danish branch of the pan-Nordic annual festival for young sound artists, Young Nordic Music.

Martin is the recipient of grants from among others Margrethe Axelsson Legat, Robert Russel's Memorial Grant and an artists residency from Dansk Tennis Fond.

Martin is the recipient of the Axel Borup-Jørgensen Composer Prize 2015 and was awarded a Léonie Sonning Schoarship in 2016. In 2016 Martin also received a grant from the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat.