About
Daniel Formo (born 1978) is a musician, improviser, composer, researcher and sound artist from Trondheim, Norway, working across a broad range of musical genres, from jazz and popular genres to improvised, contemporary and electroacoustic music. Interests include rhythmic complexities, improvisation, the relationship between music and language, as well as developing new and interesting instruments and technology for performing and making music.
Current work explores lightweight performer-centred machine learning systems, with a recent performance involving the large computer-controlled pipe organ of the Nidaros cathedral in Trondheim. Another main project can be heard on the solo recording Orchestra of Speech, exploring the musicality of spoken language as the raw material and starting point for creating music. Past projects include the Formo Tre & Metall quartet, and the Hammond dialogues series, exploring the expressive possibilities of the electric organ, and the Kobert adventurous pop outfit.
Daniel Formo has also contributed on a wide range of performances and recordings with other artists, from orchestral electro-world-jazz with Ola Kvernberg’s Steamdome ensemble, to free improvised music with Mats Gustafsson, modern jazz with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, with Heidi Skjerve or with Solid! and Nypan Trio, and contemporary music performances with the Trondheim Sinfonietta (SiTron), or with composers such as Nils Henrik Asheim.
Education includes piano studies at the Jazz department at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, with additional studies in composition, counterpoint, music technology, musicology, as well as a doctoral degree in artistic research.
Currently associate professor in Creative Music Technology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Daniel Formo is also the founder and director of the co-operative Particular Recordings Collective, an artist-run record company releasing music from a vibrant community of creative musicians based in Trondheim.
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