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Michala Østergaard-Nielsen
Michala Østergaard-Nielsen, award-winning drummer/percussionist and composer, lives in Tisvilde, a small Village near Copenhagen.
Michala is a highly interesting musician with a personal voice on the nordic music scene today and is described as "having an almost zen-like attitude towards drumming, improvisation and music”.
She began playing the piano at the age of 6 - first classical music, then jazz - and attended MGK (Musical Basic Course/preparatory course for Music Conservatory) in Nykøbing F. (1992-1995) focusing on rhythmic piano. At the age of 20, Michala took up drums as a secondary instrument during her third year at MGK, ultimately making it her primary instrument.
Artistic Education includes:
Advance Postgraduate Diploma programme in composition at RMC (The Rhythmic Music Conservatory) (2020-2022)
Master's degree in drumming/musician from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (2004-2006) and Malmö Academy of Music (2006-2009)
Her studies have primarily focused on jazz and improvisation, along with various modern classical composition techniques.
Michala is to be heard in the fields of jazz and improvisation, modern art-projects, electronica and indie-music, both as a bandleader, collective-leader and sidewoman. In 2018, Michala Østergaard-Nielsen became the first Danish artist to receive Sweden’s most prestigious jazz award, “Jazzkannan”, which is given to musicians who have made innovative contributions to jazz:“This year’s Jazzkannan goes to a spiritual and sensitive composer and musician, whose universe is full of poetic vibrations that create instant love.” (Full jury motivation below). That same year, she was also nominated by Swedish Radio for the Jazzkatten award in the category “Musician of the Year”.
In April 2025, she released her debut album “The Cave” with American pianist Marilyn Crispell and Swedish bassist Thommy Andersson on the Danish label ILK Music.The album received international recognition, including ★★★★ - All About Jazz (US): “One of the most beautiful expanses of eleven minutes ever recorded.”
In 2020, the world-renowned drummer Ra-Kalam Bob Moses included her on his list of favorite drummers:
“As a child I grew up in the same building as Max Roach, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones. I also heard up close Roy Haynes, Edgar Bateman, Rashied Ali, Pete La Roca, Milford Graves, Billy Higgins, Tony Williams, Ed Blackwell and many other greats. So I don't use the term great drummer too loosely. Here is a very partial list of some great, extraordinarily creative, visionary drummer/percussionists from all over the globe, that inspire me to keep evolving and go deeper on my instrument. I encourage you to check these people out and show them some appreciation and respect while they are still here: Billy Elgart, James Zitro ,Tony Oxley ,Franklin Kiermyer ,Francisco Mela ,Sadhu Bhav Tony Falco ,Peter Bruun ,Ahued Audra Menconi ,Simon Barker ,Peter Zeldman ,Chris Cutler ,Pedro Melo Alves ,Vladamir Tarasov ,Thomas Praestegaard ,Tupac Mantilla ,Christopher Garcia ,Michala Ostergaard-Nielsen ,Billy Drummond ,Michel Lambert. - Apologies to those I've forgotten. Love Always Hu Ra Kalam”
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Michala ?stergaard-Nielsen: The Poetic Vibrations of Drumming
by Dean Nardi
Michala ?stergaard-Nielsen is a jazz drummer from Denmark, a country with a rich tradition of women playing drums. Once during a lesson with Gerald Cleaver, she was told you could either play drums upon sound or upon a pattern. “That really opened the doors for me to not think just the technical things, but listen to it as a sound," she said, looking back on what she gained from these lessons. ?stergaard-Nielsen had classical training on the piano ...
Continue ReadingMarilyn Crispell, Thommy Andersson, Michala ?stergaard-Nielsen: The Cave
by Mike Jurkovic
A temporal fragility warmly embraces as the The Cave opens with the title cut. And since a vast portion of the world's troubled population holds a childhood fear of caves and the potential human criteria that bound rowdy from them, things could get tricky. But they do not. Marilyn Crispell, in what could be another defining moment in a lifetime of bold defining moments, holds those anxieties at bay, and does so throughout this stunning testament. “My Spirit ...
Continue ReadingOestergaard Art Quartet: More Stories from the Village
by Hrayr Attarian
Drummer Michala ?stergaard-Nielsen and her quartet's More Stories From The Village is a completely improvised set that captivates with its lyricism and its darkly cinematic ambience. This short yet compelling and cohesive disc is a mordant postmodern folk tale that relies equally on the fluid spontaneity among the ensemble members as well as their expressive individuality. On “A Road Trip To An Old Mountain" ?stergaard-Nielsen, with her brushes, generates complex rustling patterns that match guitarist Marc Ducret's dense, ...
Continue ReadingMusic
Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
The Cave
From: The CaveBy Michala ?stergaard-Nielsen
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