M.A. Tiesenga
About this Artist
M.A. Tiesenga is a composer, visual artist, sound artist, multi-instrumentalist, and improviser who uses expanded notation systems as inquiries into new sonic and relational possibilities. Their work explores the interplay between the procedure and enaction of scores within collaborative performance contexts, and sculpts that interplay into different sonic idioms. Conceiving of the musical score as both art object and notated intention, Tiesenga’s work allows both object and performance to be experienced as modular, living landscapes that reflect the people and spaces that engage them.
Best known as a saxophonist, Tiesenga is a prolific and dedicated proponent of new music and interdisciplinary collaborations. Tiesenga is a member of Grammy-nominated new music group WildUp, and has performed with Long Beach Opera, Heidi Duckler Dance, Volta Collective, Kunsthalle for Music, Brightwork Ensemble, Dog Star Orchestra, Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra, WasteLAnd Ensemble, Opera Povera, Monday Evening Concerts, Southland Ensemble, Eastman Saxophone Project, and more. Tiesenga has performed at festivals Ung Nordisk Musik, Ojai Music Festival, Nief Norf Music Festival, and Darmstädter Ferienkurse, High Desert Soundings, SXSW, and Fool In Love.
Tiesenga’s compositional collaborations include work with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Wild Up, Théâtre Musical Tokyo, Long Beach Opera, Kunsthalle for Music, SPEAK Percussion, Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble, Ensemble Supermusique, and ensembles at the Eastman School of Music, New England Conservatory, California Institute for the Arts, Yale University, and Darmstädter Ferienkurse.
M.A. Tiesenga holds an MFA in Composition - Experimental Sound Practices and an MFA in Experimental Animation with a Concentration in Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts, where they studied with Michael Pisaro, Sara Roberts, Eyvind Kang, Alexander Stewart, Pia Borg, and Tom Leeser. Tiesenga earned a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music in saxophone performance under the guidance of Dr. Chien-Kwan Lin.