Special Episode with Aleksandra Vrebalov

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 89: Special Episode with Aleksandra Vrebalov

Looking for a way to listen to diverse creators and to support equity in the arts? Tune in weekly to For Good Measure!

Today we want to share a special talk from the E4TT vault. The composer Aleksandra Vrebalov was kind enough to record for our very first virtual event in 2020, Dreams of Distant Galas: CD Release Party. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Aleksandra Vrebalov, check them out here. Parts of this episode originally premiered on June 26, 2020, click here.

This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors, like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!

Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022
Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021

Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.

Co-Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-Producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
With assistance from Hannah Chen, Sam Mason, Renata Volchinskaya

Chapters

• 0:27 The composer Aleksandra Vrebalov was kind enough to record for our very first virtual event in 2020, Dreams of Distant Galas: CD Release Party.
• 0:38 I'm Aleksandra Vrebalov, I'm a composer...

Transcript

Nanette McGuinness  00:00
[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists sponsored by a grant from the California Arts Council. I'm Nanette McGuinness, Artistic Executive Director of Ensemble For These Times. Today we want to share a special talk from the E4TT vault. The composer Aleksandra Vrebalov was kind enough to record for our very first virtual event in 2020, Dreams of Distant Galas: CD Release Party.

Aleksandra Vrebalov  00:37
I'm Aleksandra Vrebalov, I'm a composer, and I'm, I feel very privileged that I had an opportunity to work with Ensemble for These Times on more than one piece. One of my most recent pieces from last year was commissioned by Ensemble for These Times, and it's a solo piano piece, Indigo Codes. What I like about the work with Ensemble for These Times is also reflected in the name of the ensemble; I believe that music that we create today and that we bring to the audiences is the music that needs to be about us, about this time that we live in, and about the ideas that we believe in. And somehow, especially this first half of 2020, shows to me at least more than ever, how important it is to have that anchor in one's work and in the art that we do and in the community that we build around our work and our ideas. In my work, even before when times were not so obviously, critical, I always wanted to address some issue that was either personally important to me. But if it's personally important to me, that always means that other people are affected, because we all are a part of the community that we live in. So I have works that are about gender issues, like my opera Mileva, or OUR VOICES, that was also about the importance of the female vote. The environment, the justice of all kinds is what what I really tried to have present in my work. But also, I'm aware that music being so abstract and being a nonverbal art is maybe a little more difficult to, to make that change or to point to the direction that we want to take as a society. So this is where it becomes a little difficult because when there are huge changes happening, when they're,  when we need to be allowed and very specific about our beliefs. Music sometimes offers us a frequency; it offers us something that's much less tangible. And I find it sometimes frustrating. So I would say that even if there are no, if there is no verbal component, or a direct political or social message, in my work, or in work of other composers, what's so beautiful about music and being a musician is that I can always say yes, my role in the society, and in my own life is to raise the frequency, is to raise the vibration of whatever is around me and to try to contribute in that way. Sometimes, yes, it's very specific. And sometimes it's completely abstract. But I think if there is that intention that we contribute to the world, with beauty or clarity or balance or a vision of a better world, even if it's not spelled out in words, it's still there. Thank you, Ensemble for These Times. Thank you, everyone.

Nanette McGuinness  04:27
[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure, and a special thank you to our guest for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media and leaving us a rating and a review. To learn more about E4TT, our concert season online and in the Bay Area or to make a tax deductible donation, please visit us at www.e4tt.org. This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors like you. For Good Measure is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble For These Times and designed by Brennan Stokes, with special thanks to co-producer and audio engineer Stephanie M. Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure." [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS]