To the New World 8.10.08

Alla Borzova b. 1961, Minsk, Belarus

Composer Alla Borzova was born in Minsk, Belarus, has lived in the U. S. since 1993, becoming an American citizen in 2001. When honoring her with its prestigious Goddard Lieberson Fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters hailed her as a "force on the American musical scene" with the observation: "Every note she writes has an intensity and immediacy that is as startling as it is affecting." Two-time winner of the All-Union Composition Contest before her arrival to the U.S., the First Prize winner of the Delius Composition Contest (Jacksonville, Florida), the recipient of the first Susan Rose Recording Award bestowed by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, she has also received awards, grants, and fellowships from renowned American and European organizations. Borzova has been awarded residencies at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, and at Brahmshaus in Baden-Baden, Germany. Borzova’s music has been presented by the Aspen, Delius, and Sonic Boom music festivals in the U.S and several major music festivals in Russia and Belarus, such as Moscow Musical Autumn (Moscow), Sound Ways (St. Pertersburg) and Belarussian Musical Autumn (Minsk). Her music has also been commissioned and presented by the Cutting Edge concert series, Da Capo Chamber Players, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Cassatt String Quartet, Dale Warland Singers, New Amsterdam Singers, The New York Concert Singers, Gregg Smith Singers, National Symphony Orchestra of Belarus, Symphony Orchestra and choirs of Belarussian Radio and Television, Belarussian State Cappella, as well as individual performers.

Borzova’s highly imaginative music combines lyricism and “mischief” (The New Yorker), classically balanced form and refined contemporary technique. Often theatrical, some of her compositions are rooted in a particular culture or time period. She also draws inspiration from jazz, an integral part of American musical culture. Among recent premieres is Gulliver’s Travels: A Voyage to Laputa for piano solo, commissioned by Susan Rose through Meet the Composer’s New Music/New Donors program. It was premiered by Russian-American virtuoso pianist Vassily Primakov on September 16, 2006, at Lukas Theater in Savannah, Georgia, and toured after the premiere. To The New World was premiered on April 26, 2007 by the National Symphony Orchestra of Belarus under Maestro Alexander Anissimov at the Big Hall of Belarussian Philharmonic Society in Minsk. Merry Hour, Seven Songs to the poems by Mikhail Lermontov, was premiered on February 19, 2008, at Merkin Hall in New York City by tenor Steven Ebel and the Da Capo Chamber Players under the composer’s direction. In November of 2007 the cycle in its tenor/piano version (with composer on the piano) was presented at two major Russian festivals —Moscow Musical Autumn and Sound Ways. Among recent performances is the first complete performance of When the Wind Is Blowing, a cycle for mixed chorus to the poems of Maxim Tank, by the State Belarussian Cappella in Minsk Philharmonic on April of 2008; To The New World will receive its U.S. premiere on August 10, 2008, at the Grand Finale of the acclaimed Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California, under Maestra Marin Alsop. The first complete performance of the 40-minute cantata Songs for Lada (children’s choir, soloists, and symphony orchestra, Belarussian folk poetry, libretto by the composer) by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Leonard Slatkin will take place in January of 2009.

Among other works are Symphony for symphony orchestra and two extended award-winning compositions for tenor and ensemble; solo cantata Majnun Songs (poetry by Majnun, a 7th century Arabic poet), for tenor, flute, riq (Egyptian tambourine), string quartet, and Arabic dancer; and humorous song cycle Mother Said (contemporary American poet Hal Sirowitz; also tenor/piano version), for tenor and eight instruments. The latter was commissioned by the renowned American tenor Paul Sperry. Compositions for mixed choir include concerto The Ballad of Barnaby (W.H Auden’s paraphrase of the medieval French legend Le Jongleur de Notre Dame). Among the theatrical works are When Reason Sleeps and Wakes: Goya images, a ballet inspired by Goya’s drawings, and a musical fairy tale The Animal That Drank Up Sound, for flute, clarinet, trombone/euphonium, and percussion. This is a “musictelling” work, which incorporates narration, choreography, and music. Commissioned by Tales and Scales, it has been toured extensively throughout the U.S. Among other frequently performed works are suite Images Françaises for violin and piano, commissioned by the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and Pinsk & Blue for concertina/accordion and piano (also version for violin and piano). Her compositions include also works for various instruments, voice, and piano. Borzova’s compact disk “Pinsk & Blue”, recorded by the Da Capo Chamber Players and distinguished American soloists tenors Paul Sperry and James Rio, violinist Yevgenia Strenger, clarinetist Meighan Stoops, and accordionist William Schimmel) released by Albany Records in May of 2007. The disk includes three extended works—Majnun Songs, Mother Said, and Images Françaises, as well as Scherzo for clarinet and piano and Pinsk & Blue for accordion and piano and features the composer as a pianist and conductor.

Borzova began composing simultaneously with piano studies at the age of six. Two years later, as a student of the Special Music School at the Belarussian State Conservatory (now Belarussian Academy of Music), she became the youngest winner of the Youth Composition Contest. Upon completing school with the highest honors, she continued her studies at the Moscow State Conservatory, where she earned degrees with honors at the Baccalaureate, Master's, and Doctoral levels, studying composition with Alexander Pirumov. In the U.S., she has pursued additional doctoral studies with David Del Tredici at the City University of New York Graduate School. Formerly Professor of Composition at the Special Music School at the Belarussian Academy of Music, Borzova taught at Hunter and Lehman Colleges or the City University of New York, and, in addition to composing, maintains an active career as a pianist, conductor, and organist.