Wilma Pistorius (1991, South Africa) is a South-African-born composer and cellist based in Amsterdam. Her practice moves between composition and performance, with a strong focus on sound, instrumentality and collaboration with musicians.
She studied composition with Wim Henderickx and Jorrit Tamminga at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and cello with Jeroen den Herder at Codarts Rotterdam.S ince 2024, she teaches composing for strings at ArtEZ Conservatory in Arnhem, where she has also been teaching composition as a main subject since 2025. Alongside this, she is active as a performer and maintains a cello teaching practice, and occasionally coaches conservatory students in contemporary music performance.
Pistorius’ compositions often begin with close listening and with the specific sound qualities of instruments and performers. Her experience as a cellist strongly informs her compositional practice: she is fascinated by the unique character of each instrument and performer, and by the process of discovering new sonic possibilities through collaboration. Drawn to colour, texture and physicality, she develops musical worlds that balance precision with imagination, seriousness with playfulness. Her compositions are often rooted in sensory experience and in the translation of impressions, images and inner reactions into sound.
Questions around identity, embodiment and gender are recurring artistic interests in her work, explored through sound, performance and theatrical elements. Rather than treating these as separate themes, she approaches them as part of a broader artistic investigation into perception, expression and human experience.
Pistorius is composer in residence at Festival Dag in de Branding for the seasons 2025–2027. She is currently developing an interdisciplinary music theatre work for six musicians, three performers and electronics, exploring the relationship between musical, theatrical and sensory experience.
Her works have been performed at festivals and venues including Gaudeamus, November Music, CelloBiennale Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam and Concertgebouw Amsterdam, as well as internationally in Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand and Australia. In 2022 she received first prize in the CoMA composition competition for amateur ensembles.
photo by Claudia Hansen