Author Archives: Anna

Inventions of Hope Fundraiser

Posted on by
Reply

Would you like to be a part of Anna’s next composition? She’ll be writing a set of little pieces – inventions – for the fabulous pianist Anna Sagalova, who was forced to flee Ukraine due to russia’s aggression. The commissioner of this work Holy Eucharist Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, has already received 50% of the commissioning fee from the SOCAN Foundation. We are raising the other 50% from curious folks like you! Enjoy eternal fame by getting your name in the score, get a signed copy of the score or even get one of the inventions dedicated to you or your loved one.

Here’s how it works:

$45 or more: Connoisseur
In addition to the Supporter benefits, enjoy a glass of wine and snacks at the post-concert reception on October 5 at the Holy Eucharist Cathedral in New Westminster, BC, where you can interact with the musicians and view artwork by Ukrainian artists.

$125 or more: Music Lover
In addition to the Connoisseur benefits, you will receive a signed copy of the complete musical score when we premiere the entire piece in February 2025.

$300 or more: Patron (only 6 of 8 left!)
In addition to the Music Lover benefits, you’ll get your name next to one of the pieces in the collection as its commissioner and influence the composition. Choose an occupied region of Ukraine that is particularly dear to you and Anna Pidgorna will work with a folk melody from that region in her original composition. Choose a person or group to whom you want to dedicate the work. The piece will have a dedication like this under the title: “Dedicated to [name] with generous support by [name] with inspiration from [region].”

How to donate:

1. Join us in person at the our fundraising concert on November 9 at the Canadian Music Centre BC in downtown Vancouver: https://www.eventbrite.ca/…/inventions-of-hope…

OR

2. Can’t make it to the concert? Simply donate through the Eventbrite page by entering any amount in the “Donation” option: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/inventions-of-hope-fundraiser-for-ukrainian-music-and-medicine-tickets-1022172524537

“The Child” published by Oxingale

Posted on by
Reply

Happy to announce that the brand new updated score for my piece “The Child, Bringer of Light” (cello version) is now available from my publisher Oxingale! I completed this work in 2012 for the young composers’ and string players’ workshop with Kaija Saariaho and Anssi Karttunen, hosted by Carnegie Hall in New York. I had a great time working on the piece with cellist Paul Dwyer under their guidance.

This work is really important to me as it was the first time I really felt that I was truly saying something that was 100% me, even though so much of the creative process was influenced by my study of Kaija’s cello pieces. There was some magical combination of authenticity of emotional expression and satisfaction with the technical aspects of the composition process.

The work has had a busy life since that workshop. It’s been performed multiple times by cellists Rachel Mercer, Dobrochna Zubek and Ian Woodman. I made a viola transcription for Claire Poillion, which was taken up and recorded by Marina Thibeault, who has performed it at many concerts. Other violists have reached out to be after hearing Marina’s recording. I made a violin transcription for Ilana Waniuk, which was recently performed in Vancouver by young violinist Jack Campbell. So I’m very proud of this particular musical child.

Starlit Sky

Posted on by
Reply

On this longest night of the year, I am thrilled to announce the release of my first solo EP Starlit Sky, just the music to listen to while gazing at the stars and think about loved ones in places far and near. This three-song cycle sets poetry by pre-eminent Ukrainian writer Lesya Ukrainka, blending Ukrainian folk elements with contemporary classical techniques and a studio recording and mixing aesthetic. Created on two continents, three countries and five cities, this project was a way to forge connections in the time of pandemic and war. I’m honoured to release this EP with I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free, a label which donates the proceeds to Ukrainian humanitarian and self-defense foundations and activists. So, by supporting my music, you are also supporting Ukraine’s fight for freedom!

In this small cycle of poems, Lesya Ukrainka speaks to a lonely star, projecting her own feelings of melancholy and isolation onto this distant, cool speck. Friends and lovers separated by distance have long comforted themselves by looking up at the same stars, knowing that at least their gazes can embrace in that same light.

I wrote the music and recording my voice in my bedroom in Vancouver, Canada during pandemic lockdowns. My friends, double bassists Florent Ghys and Ryan Baird, recorded in their bedrooms and living rooms in New Jersey and California. Iryna Danylejko, folk singer, ethnomusicologist and my longtime collaborator, recorded her voice on two of the songs in Chernivtsi, Ukraine in the first few months following the start of russia’s full-scale invasion. She fled there from Kyiv with her three children. In the first weeks of russia’s brutal full-scale assault, she couldn’t sing at all. She was barely holding herself together and she felt that singing would crack her open. I am so honoured that she recorded this for me when she did find her voice again. The mixing and mastering was done by Yuriy Bulychev in Dnipro, Ukraine in the summer of 2023. He did an amazing job putting all of us into one fantastical space. The evocative artwork was created in response to the music by Olson Olberburg, who fled occupied Kherson (my own hometown) and has been a refugee in Sweden for over a year and a half.

It took a long time for this little project to come together and I can’t be more proud of it! Thank you for supporting my music and Ukraine’s fight for freedom! And check out other releases on the label. They are more in the electronic experimental realm and are really cool.

Bandcamp (preferred): https://ishallsinguntilmylandisfree.bandcamp.com/…/star…

Spotify (if you have to): https://open.spotify.com/album/0H8vSmBYHr5hDIpGYcSiJc…

I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free: https://ishallsinguntilmylandisfree.bandcamp.com/

I would like to acknowledge support by the Shevchenko Foundation, which funded some of the recording costs.

Ontario Concerts

Posted on by
1

Just a quick heads up about two upcoming events in Ontario featuring Through closed doors performed from its antique wooded door score. The program, performed brilliantly by Thin Edge New Music Collective, will also feature fantastic works by Ana Sokolovic, Anna Hostman and Brian Harman. If you know me and would like to come to the Toronto fundraiser, get in touch with me please.

September 20, 2014, 8:00 pm (Waterloo, ON, Canada)
The Button Factory (Waterloo Community Arts Theatre), 25 Regina St. Tickets available here.

September 21, 2014 (Toronto, ON, Canada)
A private fundraiser in Rosedale. Entrance by invitation.

I will be selling high-quality copies of four of the pages from the paper manuscript of Through closed doors. They are printed on nice 12×15″ watercolour paper and will be available for $40 each (or $140 for the set of four). I also have 5×7″ postcards for $5 each (just the first two pages). Bring cash or cheques!

Through closed doors, page 1Through closed doors, page 2Through closed doors, page 3Through closed doors, page 4

 

The door’s reincarnation

Posted on by
1

As soon as the last coat of varnish was dry, the door score was picked up by the shipper this morning. Less than 24 hours ago I was still painting the last letters. Here are some photos of the door’s journey from a bathroom of a very old house in Vancouver to its new incarnation as a musical score. I am very happy to have given this broken piece of history destined for the landfill a new lease on life.

The door in its original condition.

The door in its original condition

The door was stripped of paint using a heat gun and some heavy duty chemicals. 

Stripping the door

When most of the paint and old varnish was scrubbed off, the beautiful old growth wood was sanded to silky smoothness. I then laid out and transferred the bits of manuscript onto the surface using oil-based paint pens.

Transferring the manuscript onto the door

And here’s the door just before shipping.

Through closed doors, the door manuscript

This door manuscript will be premiered by the Thin Edge New Music Collective in Waterloo on Sept. 20. Details to come soon.

 

Playing with curves

Posted on by
1

As I finish up the ‘B side’ of the massive door score for Through closed doors, I get to experiment with curving staves. This is something I didn’t get to do on the paper manuscript.

As soon as the paint dries, this score will be shipped off to Ontario for two events. You can see violinists Ilana Waniuk and Suhashini Arulanandam perform the door in Waterloo on September 20th. More info soon.

Door score excerpt

Door score excerpt

The door

Posted on by
1

As my departure from Vancouver draws nigh, I am feverishly working to complete the final objects involved in the semi-theatrical piece Through closed doors for the Thin Edge New Music Collective. I don’t think I’ve ever had to use so many different skills in any of my creative projects. There has even been carpentry involved (my ‘day’ job coming in handy). The only thing I haven’t done here is fiber arts.

The final ‘score’ for the piece is an antique door, which the violinists will circle in pursuit of each other. The piece was inspired by it and built around it. You can see some pages of the hand-inked manuscript I made first by scrolling down to some earlier posts.

Here’s the door all ready for engraving with the manuscript laid out below it. 

The door ready for engraving
My original plan was to burn the notes into the wood with a wood burning pen. It seemed like a good idea until the metal nibs started bending from the heat of the tool they were made for (talk about quality!). Moreover, the wood the door is made from has widely varying density and is not that suitable for pyrography (things got rather bumpy).

After an episode of some first rate artistic misery, panic and hair-pulling (“Oh my god, this whole project is a disaster!!!! Who the hell did I think I was trying to pull something like this????), I discovered the Sharpie oil-based paint pens. Life is looking up.

Some music on the door

“Ivan Kupalo” wins award

Posted on by
3

I am ecstatic to announce that my chamber opera On the Eve of Ivan Kupalo has been awarded the BMO Mainstage Award by the Boston Metro Opera Company. I have no information yet beyond what is available on the website above, but it seems that the opera will receive a fully staged performance in Boston! I will post most details as they become available.

Ivan Kupalo shared the first prize in the Godfrey Rideout category of the SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers in the summer of 2013.