Sonia Killmann is an international composer and multi-media artist from Belgium. As a saxophone player, electronic musician, and audiovisual artist, she has performed across the UK and Europe. Her works are largely inspired by composers such as Pauline Oliveros, Colin Stetson and Alvin Lucier.  Sonia’s work ranges from creating ambient electronic music to classical music using acoustic instruments or electroacoustic compositions.

Her work is heavily influenced by improvisational processes. Their most recent collaboration took place at Sameheads, Berlin in 2024 with electronic musician Antonia Kattou. In March they completed a residency at EMS in Stockholm to implicate modular synthesis in their practice and translate their work into spatial audio. Since 2022, Sonia has collaborated on an interdisciplinary level with dancers and theatre makers, working with Imogen Stirling and Vanishing Point on Love The Sinner which will tour in 2024. Later, they also composed the music for Imogen’s show The Boulders We Carry, which premiered at the Scottish Mental Health Festival in October 2023.

Cryptic’s artist residency programme provides professional development timeand support for musicians and digital artists to focus exclusively upon their own practice, whilst engaging with other artists and receiving peer-to-peer learning. The emphasis of Cryptic’s residency programme is on research and the development of existing or new work and is not geared towards a final presentation.

This talent development opportunity is essential for both the artists and for Cryptic in nurturing the next generation of creative talent. Ultimately, the combination of international and UK artists at various stages in their career is what makes the learning experience so inspiring and for many artists it’s the ‘must go’ date in their calendar. Since 2012, Cryptic has curated this annual artist residency programme at Cove Park focusing on music, sound and multi-media, with over 78 artists benefitting.