About
Randi Pontoppidan, – Composer, Experimental Vocalist, Improviser, Sound Poet, Performer and Educator. Nominated for the 2020 Steppeulven award – best vocalist in Denmark.
Sublime, sensuel & divine – 6 stars at GAFFA DK
5 stars to a voice with power and magic – Berlingske Tidende
Soundart appear from empty space using only her voice – Politiken
A sound journey into the untranslatable alphabet of voice and body. – Information
Solo album ‘ROOMS’ out now on Chant Records. ‘5 stars to a voice with power and magic’ – Berlinske. Like drugs in the veins’ – Politiken. ‘Randi is a poet of the highest order. With Rooms she takes us on a voyage where space is filled with color and light. And the unexpected is around each corner’. – Greg Cohen
Randi Pontoppidan is a recognized and sought after singer, improviser and composer. She works live with loop machines and other electronic devices. She uses her voice exploring musical landscapes and bringing forth new sounds. The voice becomes the instrument. From free improvisation, free jazz, to contemporary music, Pontoppidan has over the years developed extremely extended singing techniques. She has been likened to Diamanda Galás and Maja S. K. Ratkje.
Member of the vocal quintet ensemble IKI and the collective Damkapellet.
The duo Event Horizon – Greg Cohen and Randi Pontoppidan takes on the bold challenge of making improvised music with voice, electronic and double bass. The love of sculpting sounds, melodies and pulses, makes this duo a visceral and buoyant soundscape.This experiment resulted in a dynamic duo recording Space Geode out on Chant Records 2018
The vocal/electric duo Randi Pontoppidan and Sissel Vera Pettersen – is an experimental, improvising and imaginative mini-ensemble that sets its sights on guiding the sound of the voice into sonic worlds, which has never been penetrated before. The use of loop machines and live manipulation of the voice make the sound landscapes vary from the entirely near and intimately acoustic sound to a world of “ambient” sound and polyrhythmic beats. New Album INNER LIFT, nominated as best album 2021 at Danish Music Award-jazz.
Randi Pontoppidan sings contemporary music as well touring around the world with Paul Hillier’s ensemble Theatre of Voices performing the works of Steve Reich, David Lang, Stockhausen, Cage and Berio. She has worked with the trio Other Gardens, (Linda Edsjö, perc. and Jennifer Dill, flute) since 2010. CD out 2015 including pieces by Steingrimur Rohloff, Hans Henrik Nordstrøm and Juliana Hudkinson.
Randi Pontoppidan collaborates with the poet and soundmaker Morten Søndergaard with whom she was invited by the Egyptian/Danish Dialog Institute in 2011 to work with local musicians in the Siwa oasis in Egypt. Music and poetry concerts around europe.
Performed and worked with, among others: Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Thomas Buckner, Joëlle Léandre, Thomas Agergaard, Johanna Sulkunen, Simon Toldam, Jørgen Leth, Christian Rønn, Jakob Davidsen, Louise Hindsgavl, Lotte Anker, Martin Fabricius, Simon Christensen, Stuart Lynch, Makiko Hirabayashi, Soma Allpass, Anders Børup, Dalia Faitelson and Mat Maneri.
Randi Pontoppidan has appeared on festivals around the world with her own compositions and with the music of Stockhausen, Cage and Reich, on venues including Carnegie Hall, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Mexico’s Cervantino, Colombia´s Conciertos Biblioteca Luis Angel in Bogotá, Australian Perth and Berlin’s Festspiele.
Randi Pontoppidan graduated from The Hague´s Royal Music Conservatory in jazz vocal technique and minoring in classical singing in 2000. She is teaching at RMC Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. Over the years she got supported by DJBFA, DMF, DKF, KODA and received grants from the Danish Art Foundation in 2007, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.