esther calderón m.
composer & sound artist
I'm Esther. I can barely keep my hair in place. I love comfy clothes, the forest and my dog. I'm mostly focused on keeping my plants alive and doing yoga, but sometimes, sound gets in the way.
I was born in Spain in 1996, and I've been based in Finland since 2021. I came to study a master's in Music Technology after finishing my bachelor's in Music Composition. I am now conducting my Doctoral Studies at the Sibelius Academy Uniarts Helsinki. My artistic research explores ecosystemic composition as a method for creating participatory, responsive performance environments that challenge traditional boundaries between composer, performer, audience, and technology.
These past years I've had the chance to be part of many wonderful projects, working as a composer, sound artist, improviser, performer, and lots of other roles related to sound, often in collaboration with other disciplines like dance and video games. I also started teaching at the Music Technology departmet at the Sibelius Academy, which I genuinly enjoy. Some of these projects are hypersea, and chronovariations. Hypersea is a duo with Juulia Haverinen, where we compose and perform pieces aiming to bring focus to water ecologies and the effect of climate change on different bodies of water, through a hydrofeminist lens.
I love working with natural elements, using them as both compositional materials and performance "instruments". In Venus of the Baltic Sea, we perform water. In Sediments, I use plants, rocks, and glass as instruments. Our relationship with the environment is profoundly complex and, at the same time, deeply human. Yet, it feels as though we are losing that connection. Through my work, I invite listeners to reflect on impermanence, interconnectedness, and the role we each play in shaping the world around us.
Using data as input for musical composition has helped bring these ideas to life in new forms. In Despertar en llamas, wildfire data not only informs the composition but also determines what the performers play in real-time while shaping the live electronics. Venus of the Baltic Sea also incorporates historical data and predictions in its composition.
Gyroscopes, accelerometers, capacitators, cameras, emg, photosensors. My work is drawn to them. They offer possibilities that performing an instrument doesn't. They bring unpredictability, different surface contacts, whether it's a plant, water, fabrics, or the air. They don't need a score or instructions, and at the same time, they can be composed to, composed for. They demand to be worked through and collaborated with. Perhaps it is just enjoying the soldering that keeps me returning to them.
My work explores the intersection of body, sound, and space, often through interactive technology and live electronics. I use interactive technology both in performance and sound installation contexts. In Nexe, sensors change the score, the live electronics, and the sound spatialization, all controlled through the dancer's movements. In Naiad, the interactive fabrics open questions about our relationship with water, transforming touch and gesture into a dialogue between body, material, and sound.
Live electronics are central to many of my works, not only as an extension of acoustic instruments but as independent entities. I am drawn to manipulating sounds in real time, not only in the spectral or time domain, but also spatially. Space for me has a performative dimension. Its an entity on its own.
The use of voice is also a recurrent theme in my work. I use it not only for its singing qualities, but as our most primal way of communication. Its presence carries intimacy and fragility, and when accompanied by language, it can become a medium for dialogue.
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Bio
I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Music Composition at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música “Victoria Eugenia” de Granada and gained valuable experience through an Erasmus internship at the Copenhagen Contemporary Dance School. In 2023 I graduated with a master’s degree in Music Technology at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. My Master’s project, Nexe, is an exploration of human connection, employing a choir, dance, and interactive techniques. In my research, I examine themes of immersion, interaction, and the expressive use of voice.
These themes echo in compositions like Not to, and Sleep performed at the Musica Nova Festival in Helsinki, and Despertar en Llamas, a composition for saxophone, viola, piano, oboe, and live electronics, premiered by Vertixe Sonora at Vang Festival in Madrid. In Despertar en Llamas, I utilize data to create music, shedding light on pressing global issues, such as wildfires. This approach is also present in my collaboration with Juulia Haverinen for "Venus of the Baltic Sea," showcased at Arts Adapt, where art meets activism in a powerful performance.
