The Norwegian composer Kristine Tjøgersen’s work is characterized by curiosity, imagination, humor, and precision. Her pieces for acoustic and electronic instruments, which often take the natural world as a starting point, interweave sound, theatre, and scenography to acquaint audiences with the wit and beauty of our planet. In collaboration with artists and scientific researchers, Tjøgersen develops music in support of the notion that astonishment lies wherever one is willing to look. Raised in the village of Sagesund, on the southcoast of Norway, Tjøgersen (b. 1982) began her musical studies on the clarinet, going onto complete a bachelor’s and master’s in clarinet performance from the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she studied with Hans Christian Bræin. She then earned a master’s in composition from Anton Bruckner Universität, where she studied with Carola Bauckholt.  
 
Tjøgersen has produced music in close collaboration with leading chamber ensemble s and orchestras throughout Europe, including Ensemble Recherche, Klangforum Wien, Arditti Quartet, Kronos Quartet, SWR and WDR Symphonieorchester, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Her music has appeared at festivals such as ECLAT, Ultraschall, WienModern, Tectonics, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, and Ultima. She is a recipient of awards from numerous international institutions, including a 2019-20 Akademie der Künste fellowship and Norway’s most prestigious composer award, the Arne Nordheim Prize (2020). In 2020, she was awarded Norway’s Pauline Hall Prize for Bioluminescence (2017), and in 2021 she received the Norwegian Society of Composers’s “Work of the Year” for Piano Concerto (2019/20). Between Trees (2021) was the selected work of the 2022 International Rostrum of Composers in Palermo and received the Coup de Coeur des Jeunes Mélomanes from the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco in 2023. In 2024, she was awarded the Edvard Prize for Pelagic Dreamscape (2023). 2025 saw Tjøgersen honored with a Composer Prize from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. 

Cikada has been a key player on the Nordic contemporary music scene since its formation in 1989. 
Never afraid to follow its own path, the ensemble continues to renew itself through astute, innovative programming and the ever-present desire to let audiences experience some of the best music of our time. The ensemble performs at prestigious festivals such as Donaueschinger Musiktage, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, Warsaw Autumn, and the Ultima Festival, of which it is a founding member. Cikada has released numerous albums for ECM, Lawo Classics, Aurora and 2L, and has appeared on several split albums and compilations. Their oeuvre has garnered accolades such as the Norwegian Grammy “Spellemannprisen”, the Edison Award, and the prestigious Nordic Council’s Music Prize of 2005, in addition to several prize nominations. Cikada Ensemble is funded by the Norwegian Arts Council and Oslo Municipality.