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Anna Pidgorna (b. 1985, pronounced /peed-GOR-na) is a Ukrainian-Canadian composer, vocalist, visual artist, and producer based in Greater Vancouver, Canada. She combines music making, visual arts, video, writing, and even a little carpentry in her multimedia practice. Her music is characterized by “a balance of bold colour palettes, strong melodic profiles, and unexpected performative elements” (Nick Storring for MusicWorks Magazine).
Pidgorna was born in Ukraine and is heavily influenced by her heritage. With funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, she spent three months recording folk singing in Ukraine in the fall of 2012 and 2013 along with her collaborator, writer and librettist Maria Reva. Pidgorna borrows melodic, ornamental, rhythmic, timbral, gestural and poetic elements from this rich tradition to create original works that fuse folklore with contemporary musical language and techniques. Pidgorna and Reva currently hold a Canada Council for the Arts grant to conduct research in Ukraine during and Russia’s invasion.
Pidgorna is also developing her own approach to vocalization which expands Ukraine’s folk singing styles past their traditional boundaries and blends them with classical vocal techniques. She has written a collection of works for herself and various instrumental forces including A soul’s keening for her beloved, Invented Folksongs, Mint Picker’s Man and Weeping for a dead love.
With a penchant for the dramatic, Pidgorna has written several operas. Plaything, cowritten with Reva and developed with Musique 3 Femmes through the Prix 3 Femmes Mécénat Musica prize, received its world premiere at UfaFabrik in Berlin in September 2022 and Canadian premiere with Opera McGill in November 2022. The duo (known as Fermata Opera) also wrote Our Trudy for the Ad Astra Festival in Russell, Kansas. The project explored the life of local artist and educator Trudy Furney through engagement with community members, and received its premiere in June 2021 at the Prairiesta 2021 festival. Pidgorna and Reva are currently developing Dental Interceptions, a musical play for Sawtooth duo exploring Soviet, Nazi and now Russian occupation in southern Ukraine. Pidgorna is also collaborating on a part-live, part-virtual theatrical work with Northern Irish composer Brian Irvine co-commissioned by Soundstreams (Toronto) and Red Note (Edinburgh).
With her strong background in visual arts, Pidgorna also incorporates visual elements into some of her works. Her violin duo Through closed doors is inscribed onto a restored antique door designed to act both as a performance score and the setting for the intimate drama played out by the performers. Her mini-opera Mirror, mirror exists as a limited-edition set of five hand-printed panels created with linocut, watercolour and yarn. She is currently developing a semi-improvised work with a visual score with violinist Illana Waniuk.
Pidgorna’s work has been commissioned, performed and recorded by Soundstreams, 21C Festival, New Music Concerts, Gryphon Trio, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Orpheus Choir, Chorus Niagara, Women’s Musical Club of Toronto (Ontario); Musique 3 Femmes, Stick&Bow, Architek Percussion, Ensemble Paramirabo, Katelyn Clark, Marina Thibeault, Ben Grossman (Quebec); Turning Point, Duo Inquietum, Artemis Musician’s Society, Standing Wave (British Columbia); Now Hear This Festival, UltraViolet Ensemble, Forms of Sound Festival (Alberta); Essential Opera, Janice Jackson, Oscillations Festival (Nova Scotia); So Percussion, Sandbox Percussion, Ensemble Mise-En (New York); Delirium Musicum, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra (Los Angeles); Wild Shore Festival (Alaska); Ludovico Ensemble, Trio Klaritas (Boston); Gamin (Korea/New York); Red Note Ensemble (Edinburgh); Irish Language Art Song Project (Dublin). Pidgorna holds two SOCAN Foundation Emerging Composers’ Awards and represented Canada at the ISCM World New Music Days 2013 festival in Vienna.
Pidgorna completed her undergraduate studies at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick in 2007, a master’s degree at the University of Calgary in 2013, and a PhD in Music Composition from Princeton University in 2020. She participated in composition workshops with R. Murray Schafer and Soundstreams in Toronto, Kaija Saariaho and Anssi Karttunen at Carnegie Hall in New York, and Gary Kulesha and Chen Yi at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Pidgorna completed two creative residencies at the Banff Centre (Alberta), as well as residencies at I-Park (Connecticut), Avaloch Farm (New Hampshire), Bunnell Street Art Centre (Alaska), and Deer Lake Artist Residencies (British Columbia).
Pidgorna is the founder of Pickle Underground, a multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to promoting Ukrainian artists working in Canada, placing their practice within the context of larger historical and geographical trends. Started with composer Ben Keast as an informal fundraising initiative to support Ukrainian musicians directly impacted by Russian aggression, the organization is currently undergoing the process of incorporation as a non-profit. Pidgorna is also part of Fermata Opera along with her collaborator and sister, writer and librettist Maria Reva.
Anna Pidgorna is a Ukrainian-Canadian composer, vocalist and multi-media artist who combines sound, visual arts, video, theatre and writing in her work. She is strongly influenced by Ukraine’s folk music, incorporating elements of this singing and poetic tradition into her own vocal practice and instrumental composition. With funding from Canada Council for the Arts, she travelled through rural Ukraine to record local singing practices in 2012 and 2013. To date, this research has culminated in numerous instrumental works, as well as the song cycle “Invented Folksongs” recorded with Ensemble Ludovico in Boston and in the process of becoming an album, and “A Soul’s Keening for her Beloved”, a 20-minute work for voice and string orchestra premiered with Delirium Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles in 2020 and receiving its Canadian premiere with Turning Point Ensemble in Vancouver in 2022. Along with writer and collaborator Maria Reva, Pidgorna currently holds a Canada Council for the Arts grant to conduct research in Ukraine during the war. The duo are recipients of the Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes 2020 Award, and have written two operas together: “Our Trudy”, commissioned and premiered by the Ad Astra Festival in Russell, Kansas in 2021, and “Plaything”, developed by Musique 3 Femmes and premiered at UfaFabrik in Berlin in 2022. Pidgorna is currently working on a theatrical collaboration with Irish composer Brian Irvine, co-produced by Red Note Ensemble in Edinburgh and Soundstreams in Toronto. Pidgorna draws a great deal of inspiration from the natural soundscape often imitating birds and animals in her work. Having studied visual arts from an early age, she incorporates visual elements into some of her manuscripts. Pidgorna holds two SOCAN Foundation Emerging Composers’ Awards and represented Canada at the ISCM World New Music Days 2013 festival in Vienna. Her work has been commissioned, performed and recorded by soloists, ensembles, presenters and festivals in Canada, USA, Uruguay, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Poland, Ukraine and South Korea. She holds a PhD from Princeton University, an MMus from the University of Calgary, and a BA from Mount Allison University.
Anna Pidgorna is a Ukrainian-Canadian composer, vocalist and multi-media artist who combines sound, visual arts, video, theatre and writing in her work. She works extensively with opera and voice, draws inspiration from Ukrainian folk singing and the natural soundscape, and incorporates visual elements into some of her manuscripts. She travelled through rural Ukraine to record local singing practices in 2012 and 2013, this research culminating in numerous instrumental and vocal works. Along with writer Maria Reva, Pidgorna holds a Canada Council for the Arts grant to conduct research in Ukraine during the war. The duo are recipients of the Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes 2020 Award, and have written two operas together: “Our Trudy”, commissioned and premiered by the Ad Astra Festival in Russell, Kansas in 2021, and “Plaything”, developed by Musique 3 Femmes and premiered at UfaFabrik in Berlin in 2022. Pidgorna holds a PhD from Princeton University.
Anna Pidgorna is a Ukrainian-Canadian composer, vocalist and multi-media artist who combines sound, visual arts, and writing to create works that are dramatic and picturesque. She works extensively with Ukrainian folk singing, draws inspiration from the natural soundscape, and incorporates visual elements into some of her manuscripts. Her work has been commissioned, performed and recorded by soloists and ensembles in Canada, USA, Uruguay, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Poland, Ukraine and South Korea. She holds a PhD from Princeton University, an MMus from the University of Calgary, and a BA from Mount Allison University.
Anna Pidgorna est une compositrice, chanteuse et artiste multimédia ukraino-canadienne qui combine le son, les arts visuels, l’écriture et la menuiserie pour créer des œuvres spectaculaires et pittoresques. Travaillant abondamment avec des chants folkloriques ukrainiens, elle en glisse des éléments dans sa musique instrumentale. Avec un amour infini du plein air, Pigdorna puise son inspiration dans les environnements sonores sauvages, imitant souvent oiseaux et animaux. Ayant très tôt étudié les arts graphiques, elle intègre des éléments graphiques à certains des ses manuscrits. Ses collaborateurs et commissaires comprennent Soundstreams, 21C Festival, New Music Concerts, Gryphon Trio, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Michael Bridge, Rachel Mercer (Toronto); Ensemble Paramirabo, Katelyn Clark, Marina Thibeault (Montréal); Standing Wave (Vancouver); Now Hear This Festival, UltraViolet Ensemble (Edmonton); Sandbox Percussion, Ensemble Mise-En (New York); Delirium Musicum, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra (Los Angeles); Wild Shore Festival (Alaska); Ludovico Ensemble, Trio Klaritas (Boston); Gamin (Korea/New York); Irish Language Art Song Project (Dublin). Elle est récipiendaire de deux prix de la Fondation pour les jeunes compositeurs et a représenté le Canada au festival ISCM World New Music Days 2013 à Vienne. Pidgorna est titulaire d’un doctorat de Princeton, d’une maîtrise en musique de l’université de Calgary et d’un baccalauréat de l’université Mount Allison.
Анна Підгорна – українсько-канадська композиторка, вокалістка та мультимедійна художниця, яка поєднує у своїй творчості звук, образотворче і драматичне мистецтво, і писання. Вона працює з українською народною музикою, впроваджуючи елементи цієї співочої та поетичної традиції у власну вокальну практику та інструментальний склад. У 2012 та 2013 роках завдяки фінансуванню Канадської ради мистецтв вона подорожувала по селам України, щоб записати місцеві практики співу. Підгорна черпає багато натхнення у природному звуковому ландшафті, часто імітуючи птахів і тварин у своїй творчості. Вивчаючи образотворче мистецтво з раннього дитинства, вона включає візуальні елементи в деякі зі своїх рукописів. Разом із лібретистом Марією Ревою Підгорна є лауреатом нагороди Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes 2020, а також має дві нагороди SOCAN Foundation Emerging Composers’ Awards. Вона представляла Канаду на фестивалі ISCM World New Music Days 2013 у Відні. Її твори замовляються, виконуються та записуються солістами та ансамблями в Канаді, США, Уругваї, Ірландії, Шотландії, Франції, Німеччини, Австрії, Італії, Греції, Польщі, Україні та Південній Кореї. Вона має ступінь доктора філософії Прінстонського університету, магістра університету Калгарі та ступінь бакалавра університету Маунт-Еллісон.