Terje Isungset: Composer and musical director

Instead of traditional instruments, percussionist Terje Isungset has a collection of over 200 objects as well as recordings of the sounds made in factories and by machines. He uses all these to make his unique and extraordinary music. He says that each instrument has its own story: a waterphone, for example, was given to him as a gift at a concert in America. Another special object he uses is a ram’s horn, which he blows into to create the distinctive melancholic sound of the Beast in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in Bristol Old Vic’s production of Beasts and Beauties. He says the horn was given to him by a farmer, and probably belonged to the last living wild goat in Norway. Terje guards it with his life, and says he never leaves it on stage at concerts.

In Beasts and Beauties , Terje was on stage alongside the actors and says that he felt as if he was playing in a band or a concert, since his role was highly collaborative and never exactly the same from one performance to the next. His advice to people who want to pursue a musical career is simple: remember every human being is unique, and each person has something special to give; it’s just a matter of finding out what that is and vigorously pursuing it.

Find out more about being a percussionist.