Scratching by CSO cellist Katinka Kleijn is a sound and action work that is a direct commentary on a famous quote by the late conductor Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961); "Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands and all you can do is scratch it." Kleijn builds immersive multi-channel soundscapes by scratching her body and cello, both sonified by microphones, while realizing actions ridiculed by Beecham. Simultaneously, the actions explore ownership of both bodies. As a result, Beecham and Kleijn approach the cello as a body corollary to the human body in distinctly different approaches. Scratching has been presented at EXPO Chicago and The Momentary Museum at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
RESIDUUM for Cello and Trash (2022) is an experimental short film created by composer-performer/video artist, Aliya Ultan for cellist/interdisciplinary artist, Katinka Kleijn.
Dai Fujikura, Cello Concerto, Katinka Kleijn, solo cello, Karina Canellakis, conductor, International Contemporary Ensemble, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY, World Premiere, August 23, 2016
Conducted Map (2022) by Katinka Kleijn, for map, cellist, synth and copper wires, a live interactive performance engaging with the Chicago map at the Chicago History Museum at Chicago Night of Ideas, May 12, 2022.
Conducted Map (2022) by Katinka Kleijn, for map, cellist, synth and copper wires, a live interactive performance engaging with the Chicago map at the Chicago History Museum at Chicago Night of Ideas, May 12, 2022.
The Body as a Variable Resistor for Cellist and Cellosynth (2021) by Katinka Kleijn is a performance in which the bodies of a cellist and a cello share a 9V circuit.
In Top Coat for Mylar, Cello and Cellosynth (2023) by Katinka Kleijn, a mylar blanket wrapped around a cello is explored as both as an insulator and a conductor.
Conducted Vault (2022) by Katinka Kleijn. Performance for Cellist, Synth and Vault, April 15 2022. Presented by Industry of the Ordinary's 'Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow', Design Museum of Chicago.
Katinka Kleijn and Lia Kohl’s shared practice explores vulnerability and resilience through the cello as an object, a body, and a sound-making tool. Water on the Bridge (2019) was created and performed at the Eckhart Park Natatorium as part of Chicago Park District’s ‘Night Out in the Parks’. A surreal and playful exploration of tenderness, violence and letting go through the unlikely pairing of cellos and water, it incorporates elements of theatre, movement, and improvisation. More information about Kohl and Kleijn’s work, and Augmented Geology (2022), a body of work created while in residence in Joshua Tree here.






Synthsation (2023) is an action and sound work created by Rin Peisert and Katinka Kleijn, and was premiered at Elastic Arts, Chicago. (Photos by Ricardo Adame)
In Intelligence in the Human-Machine, co-created by Katinka Kleijn, cello, and Daniel DeHaan, composer, a cellists’ EEG monitored brainwaves respond to words, tasks and musical fragments, triggering live sonic and visual translations of those data.