I am a composer and performer from Chicago, living and working in Copenhagen Denmark. My work focuses on music theater, combining found sounds, video, and images with instrumental writing informed by my background in both classical and experimental rock music. I investigate how performance on the stage might re-enchant a disenchanted world with miracles, magic, illusion, bodies, surprise, humor, and imagination as tools.
In both my own works and those of my colleagues, I frequently appear as narrator, vocalist, guitarist, or director. In recent years, my active presence on stage has become integral to my artistic sense of self, functioning not only as performance but as a means of establishing a closer proximity between authorship and the work itself. I am a founding member of Munich Operating Theater, together with my long-term artistic partner Nikolaus von Bemberg, where we conceive and produce large-scale music theater works.
I studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Royal Danish Academy of Music. My work has been presented at festivals including Klang, Spor, Nordic Music Days, Minu, Darmstadt, and Aalborg Opera Festival, and performed by leading European ensembles and soloists including K!art, Neko 3, NJYD, DR Vokal Ensemblet, Marco Blauw, The Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta, Kollektiv Unruhe, Trio Sol and others.
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Connor McLean Composer 