Hailed by The New York Times as “a player of formidable expressive gifts,” cellist Katinka Kleijn has established a genre-defying career. Her work spans performance, improvisation, composition, and performance art, fusing traditionally siloed practices. Kleijn was a 2022 featured composer at Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN. Her situation-based composition ‘Forward Echo’ for 11 musicians was performed by the prize winning new music ensemble Dal Niente., and the ensemble’s flutist Emma Hospelhorn subsequently commissioned Kleijn for a Solo Flute & Electronics work titled ‘Free Dive’, (2023). Recently, Kleijn premiered and performed Anna Thorsvaldsdottir’s Ubique at Carnegie Hall and at the Ojai Music Festival with flutist and McArthur Genius Fellow Claire Chase, released a cello and modular synthesizer record on the Berlin-based Elektramusic label, and was commissioned by the Formosa String Quartet to write a string quartet. A member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and International Contemporary Ensemble, Kleijn has presented solo multimedia shows at Art Expo Chicago, Library of Congress, North Carolina Performing Arts and the Chicago Humanities Festival. A Drag City recording artist, her recordings include Dai Fujikura's Cello Concerto with ICE and David Baker’s Cello Concerto with the Chicago Sinfonietta.