Tanja Orning is a Norwegian cellist, musicologist, educator and composer active primarily in the fields of contemporary and experimental music. After cello studies in Oslo, in London with William Pleeth and at Indiana University with János Starker (as a Fulbright Research Fellow), she held the position as a co-principal cellist in the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra for 5 years until she left for Oslo in year 2000 in order to realise a number of projects as a performer, improviser and composer. Her growing interest for composition led her to take composition classes at The Norwegian Academy of Music, and she started composing music for interdisciplinary projects such as “Sound of Movement” with dancer Ellen Johannesen and the performance group “Mobile Homes.”
Orning has premiered approx. 120 new works by composers in Norway and abroad, including Carola Bauckholt, Simon Steen-Andersen, Natasha Barrett, Clemens Gadenstätter, Maja Ratkje, Øyvind Torvund, Johannes Kreidler, Therese Birkelund Ulvo, Trond Reinholdtsen, Bente Leiknes Thorsen, Kristine Tjøgersen and Mathias Spahlinger.
She has performed at festivals such as Internationalen Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt, Donaueschingen, Huddersfield contemporary music festival, Ultima, Ultraschall, Wien Modern, Warsaw Autumn, Taktlos (Zürich), Kammer Klang, Rainy Days, ECLAT, Other Minds (San Fransisco), Portland Jazz Festival, Borealis, ilios, Molde and Kongsberg Jazz Festival.