Cornelia Zambila

Cornelia ZAMBILA is a composer and performer whose work explores the creative spaces between early and new music, between artistic media, and between traditional and innovative practices. Currently a PhD candidate at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, her artistic research "Between the notes: Creative uses of performance practices through a taxonomy of musicking mechanisms" develops a transdisciplinary approach to musical creation based on improvisation and alternative notation systems. Her work focuses on investigating authentic experiences within the creative process itself, developing collaborative compositional methods that extend into theater, movement, storytelling, performance and sensory work.

Her academic formation reflects this interdisciplinary approach: after studies in violin, composition, and orchestral conducting at the National University of Music Bucharest, she graduated from the NAIP programme at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (Joint Master's for New Audiences and Innovative Practices). In a quest to learn more about improvisation styles, she afterwards enrolled into a Master's in Early Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels, and a specialized Master's in Early XXth Century Historically Informed Performance Practices. Complementing her musical studies, she has pursued theater training at KunstZ Academy Antwerp and engaged in ethnomusicology field research, developing skills in transcription and performance of world music traditions including tango, Balkan, Celtic, and klezmer repertoires. This trajectory led her to develop multi-stylistical improvisation as a method for contemporary composition, combining research in historical performance practices with exploration of new forms of notation and collaborative creation that draws from both theatrical and ethnomusicological methodologies.

Cornelia is active in numerous ensembles and collaborative projects, from the Ricercare Collective (applying historically informed performance practices to creating new works), to Chrysalides and Folkistan duos (focused on folk, music theater and audiovisual performance), Sturm! Collective (dedicated to combining experimental early music with contemporary pieces) as well as her research in sensory poetics with the BBB collective. Her theatrical background informs much of her work, including comedy improvisation, sensory theater performance, and physical theater, which she integrates into her musical practice and pedagogical approach. As a pedagogue, she designs and leads creative workshops for diverse groups ranging from arts students to vulnerable groups, for example through her action-research project between composers and HIPP performers, her Sensory Poetics workshops at the Antwerp Academy, and her workshops with refugees at Kultkom Eupen as part of the MyWay project financed by Un Futur pour la Culture. Her recent compositions include works for choreographic theater, audiovisual performance, and chamber music, reflecting her ongoing quest for artistic authenticity in non-traditional environments that bridges musical, theatrical, and interdisciplinary practices.