LEMUR is a fourheaded sonic organism that transforms, blends and breaks the boundaries of their instruments and the art of quartet playing. Drawing on a shared vocabulary of experimental music, noise, contemporary music and jazz, the four soloists work as both a tightly knit improvising unit and a conceptually guided composition collective.

Since forming in 2006, LEMUR have performed across Europe and Asia in formations ranging from acoustic and electronic quartet sets to collaborations with pianist John Tilbury, guitarist Stian Westerhus and avant-disco band AMOR, and larger projects with Caput, Glasgow Improvisors Orchestra and the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra. Their output ranges from music created live onstage to compositions that draw on titles from the canon of twentieth-century modernism.

2026 marks LEMUR’s twentieth anniversary season, opening with the premiere of Lichtbogen at Ultima, Oslo, on 11 September.

Bjørnar Habbestad, flutes
Hild Sofie Tafjord, horn
Lene Grenager, cello
Michael Francis Duch, bass

Bjørnar Habbestad

(b. 1976, Bømlo) is a flautist, curator and researcher working across contemporary music. Active since 2003, his work ranges from solo premieres and ensemble performance to installation, chamber music, improvisation, noise and electroacoustics. He holds a PhD in performance practice from the Norwegian Academy of Music, and served as the Artistic Director of nyMusikk, Norway’s leading organisation for contemporary music, between 2017 and 2025.

Hild Sofie Tafjord

(b. 1974, Sula) is a horn player, electronic composer and improviser. Touring internationally since 1995, she has collaborated with musicians and ensembles including Fred Frith, Fire Orchestra, Phantom Orchard, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Lotta Melin, and performs regularly with Lemur, SPUNK and Zeitkratzer. Her work spans dance, theatre, installation and performance, and features on more than 130 records, with solo releases on Pica Disk and +3dB. She was Artist in Residence at EMS Stockholm in 2017.

Lene Grenager

(b. 1969, Halden) is a composer and cellist. Her catalogue spans solo to orchestral works, and she is active as a performer, producer and conductor across more than 30 releases, with performances at festivals including Ultima, Stockholm New Music, Huddersfield CMF, November Music, Donaueschinger Musiktage, FIMAV, Tectonics and Moldejazz. She works regularly with the improvisation ensembles SPUNK and Lemur, in duo with Sofia Jernberg, and as a soloist touring Europe, Canada and the United States.

Michael Francis Duch

(b. 1978, Trondheim) is a bass player, professor and researcher. Beyond Lemur, his work spans more than 80 recordings of improvised and composed music, solo and as an ensemble member, with collaborators including Pauline Oliveros, Christian Wolff, Tony Conrad, Joëlle Léandre, George Lewis and AMM. He performs frequently with the free-jazz trio en en en, a trio with John Tilbury and Rhodri Davies, and with the Glasgow-based avant-disco unit AMOR. He is currently Deputy Head of Research and Professor of double bass, jazz and experimental music at the Department of Music, NTNU, Trondheim.