Ellen Sargen

Ellen’s research addresses ongoing shifts in the creative distribution between composer and performer

A composer who predominantly works through collaboration, her work aims to put the unique creative bodies of performers (involved in any collaboration) firmly at the forefront of the compositional process.

She aims to provide a platform for the performer to have equal creative license and ownership over new works, and strives to create a space for the performer to explore relationships with their instruments, their performing bodies, their repertoire and their performing environment.

By working with the same performers over a period of three years, Ellen hopes to bring the performer’s conception of identity into the fabric of new works, and allow the audiences to develop relationships with performers on this premise.

Through anthropological and ethnographic methods and thinking, Ellen seeks to explore collaboration in the 21st century through a critical lens, contributing to discussion over the discursive future of the discipline.