Commissions received from:
Three co-commissions from Carnegie Hall for Kronos Quartet (...hold me neighbor in this storm..., My Desert, My Rose and Ilektrikes Rimes), New Music USA, Harvard/FROMM (USA), Cincinnati Opera, Glimmerglass Opera (USA), English National Ballet - Dance Journeys (UK), Brooklyn Youth Chorus and Brooklyn Academy of Music (USA), UC Berkeley - Cal Performances (USA), Rambert Dance, London (UK), Limon Dance (USA), Serbian National Theater (Novi Sad, Serbia), Three commissions from Kyo-Shin-An Arts (USA), Three commissions from Dusan Tynek Dance Theater (NYC), Kingsford Commission, ASCAP (USA), Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina State University (USA), Ensemble for These Times, San Francisco (USA), Houghton Mifflin for Festival Ballet Providence, RI (USA), Clarice Smith Performance Arts Center Maryland (USA), Barlow Endowment (USA), Orfeo Duo (USA), University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory of Music, Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra (USA), San Francisco Conservatory (USA), SWVCC Festival of the Arts (WV), Mannes’ Bach and Baroque Legacy Festival (NYC), Merkin Concert Hall Composers’ Zoom Series New York, John Psarouthakis (Greece/USA).
Visiting Artist/Residencies:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Creative Fusion: Composers Series (2018-2020, 2024)
Conservatory Giuseppe Tartini, Trieste, Italy (November 2023, July 2024)
Arts, Letters and Numbers, NY (August 2022, July 2023, August 2024)
String Biennale Amsterdam (May 2023)
Festival Mokranjcevi dani, Negotin, Serbia ( September 2022)
Arts, Letters and Numbers, NY (August 2022)
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Creative Fusion: Composers Series (2018-2020)
San Francisco Conservatory of Music (2019)
Flying Carpet Music Festival/Muzikhane, Mardin, Turkey (September 2018, February 2019, August 2019)
Forbidden City Orchestra (Beijing), fieldtrip to China (June 2018, October 2017, April - May 2016)
The Hermitage, FL (January 2016, March 2014)
Europa Cantata, Pecs, Hungary, August 2015
Djerassi Foundation, CA (April - May 2014)
University of California, Berkeley, Music and Modernity (April 2 - 6, 2014)
MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH, (2011, 2006, 2003, 1998)
Summer in Sombor, Serbia (July 2010 and 2009, August 2008 and 2007) , Novi Sad Music Festivities, NOMUS, Serbia (April 2009, April 2005)
University of Maryland, Clarice Smith Center (November 2008)
American Lyric Theater, NYC (November 07 – January 08)
Kotorart Festival, Kotor, Montenegro (July 2007)
Interzone Festival, Novi Sad, Serbia (May 2006)
SWVCC Festival of the Arts, Abingdon VA (April 2006)
Bach and Baroque Legacy Festival, Mannes College, NYC (March 2006)
RIPFest 7, NY (October 2005)
The Douglas Moore Fellow at the Florida Grand Opera (January and February 2005)
Festival Ballet Guest Composer, Providence, Rhode Island (2004)
The Douglas Moore Fellow at the Opera Memphis (September - December 2004)
The Douglas Moore Fellow at the Glimmerglass Opera (July and August 2004)
New Dramatists, NY (2004)
June in Buffalo, NY (2003)
American Opera Projects, Brooklyn, NY (2003)
Cabrillo Conductors/Composers’ Workshop, Santa Cruz, CA (2002)
Other Minds Festival, San Francisco, CA, (2001)
Rockefeller Bellagio Center, Lake Como, Italy (2000)
Gaudeamus Seminar on contemporary works for string quartet, Amsterdam, Holland (1996)
Recordings and Publications:
Constellation Hartig on Dark Velvet, Challenge Records International, CD (2022)
Xenia and the Bishop and Tango on Duvacki kvinteti, Muzika Klasika, CD (2021)
Danube Etude on Novi Sad: NEKOLIKO SKICA, PONEKA SLIKA I JEDNO TUMACENJE, ReKonekcija CD (2022)
Indigo Codes, for solo piano performed by Mihajlo Zurkovic, on Novosadske Kompozitorke Vol. 1 published by ReKonekcija funded by the City of Novi Sad, CD, December (2020)
My Desert, My Rose, on Live from New York, It’s Sybarite5, on on Bright Shiny Things, CD and Vinyl, (2020)
Salome, on Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers, soundtrack for Alla Nazimova’s silent film (1923), 71 minutes, Disc 5, on Kino Lorber (2018)
Bubbles, on Final Answer, performed by San Francisco Girls’ Chorus and Kronos Quartet, conductor Valerie Sainte Agathe, Orange Mountain Music (2018)
Bubbles, on Black Mountain Songs, performed by Brooklyn Youth Chorus, conductor Dianne Berkun, New Amsterdam Records (2017)
More Nade (The Sea of Hope), electronic music, released by The Institute of Culture of Vojvodina to accompany the art monograph by Dragan Jankov (2017)
The Sea Ranch Songs, with film by Andrew Lyndon, music by Aleksandra Vrebalov, CD/DVD set performed by Kronos Quartet, Cantaloupe (2016)
Beyond Zeo: 1914 - 1918 film by Bill Morrison, music by Aleksandra Vrebalov, music performed by Kronos Quartet, DVD, Ikarus (2015)
Passion Revisited on VATRENJA, Association of Composers of Serbia (2015), K. Radovanovic, piano, Julia Hartig, violin, Goran Mrdjenovic, violoncello
Pannonia Boundless on Kronos Explorer Series, Nonesuch (2014), Kronos Quartet
The Spell II on INGMAR, Association of Composers of Serbia and Association in Art Ingmart (2013)
Eastern Chapel Meditations on MUSIC FROM THE BALKANS, Centaur Records (2012)
The Spell III on ANA - Reflections, Innova 776 (2010), Ana Milosavljevic, assisted by Brian Mohr
The Spell III on PATH, LCMS 1001 (2010), Elizabeth Cooney assisted by Tommaso Perego
…hold me neighbor in this storm…, on Floodplain, Nonesuch (2009), Kronos Quartet
Pannonia Boundless, CD, Studentski Kulturni Centar Novi Sad (2009), TAJJ Kvartet
Pannonia Boundless, publication by Boosey&Hawkes (2007)
My Orbits - TV Biography, Serbian National Television, NS Channel, 25 minutes, (2005)
Pannonia Boundless on Hello Kronos, Japanese Memorial Edition, Nonesuch (2003), Kronos Quartet
String Quartet #2 on Other Minds 7, Other Minds (2001), Onyx String Quartet
Pannonia Boundless on Caravan, Nonesuch (2000), Kronos Quartet
Times on Vienna Modern Masters, VMM (1997), Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, J.Mikula cond.
Rodjenje Hristovo on Zvucni Letopis, Novi Sad Academy of Arts Sound Series (1992), NSAA Choir
Collaborations:
Deborah Brevoort on The Knock, 2020, Luciano Chessa on The Laughing Garden, 2019, Niloufar Talebi (writer) on Abraham in Flames, 2017 - 2019, Dusan Tynek (choreographer) on Anna 2014 - 2018, John King (composer) on 10, 000 Things, 2016, Patricia Okenwa (choreographer) on Hydrargyrum, 2015/16, Ronit Eisenbach (architect), Jeni Wightman (visual artist), and Cassie Mador (choreographer) on WaterLines, Chester river waterfront installation, 2014/15, Bill Morrison (filmmaker), on Beyond Zero for Kronos Quartet, 2013, Igor Antic (visual artist), on documentary film Les quatre cariatides, 2013, Dragan Jankov (visual artist), on Music for Metaphysical Painter and The Sea of Hope, 2011/12, Dusan Tynek (choreographer) on Trilogy in 2012, Nene Humphrey (visual artist) on Amygdala Project, 2011/12, David Krakauer and Kronos Quartet on Babylon, Our Own 2011, Vida Ognjenovic (playwright) on Mileva in 2009/10, David Harrington (violinist) on ...hold me, neighbor, in this storm... in 2007, Vladimir Valjarevic (pianist) on Forgotten Anthems in 2006, Michael John Garces (playwright) on Stations in 2005/06 and Canta Claro in 2004, Viktor Plotnikov (choreographer) on The Widow’s Broom in 2004, Brooke Berman (playwright) on Lava in 2004, Lidija Srebotnjak (visual artist) on The Numbers in 1996
Awards, Fellowships and Honors:
The 2024 Grawemeyer Music Prize for Missa Supratext, 2023
Best Music Score - 54. International Professional Puppet Theater Festival, Nis, Serbia, 2023
ASCAP PLUS Award (2003-2023)
Mokranjacevi Dani Festival, Keynote Speaker, Mokranjac Gold Plaque, Serbia, 2022
Muzika Klasika 2021 Composer of the Year, for ANTENNAE, Serbia, 2022
Hoefer Prize, San Francsico Conservatory of Music, 2019
New Music USA grant for Abraham in Flames, 2017
New Music USA grant for The Exiles, 2017
Golden Badge KPZ/Ministry of External Affairs, for longterm contribution to Serbian culture, 2015
FROMM/Harvard University Commission, 2014
SANDBOX, Washington College, Chestertown, 2014
Kingsford Art Song Commission/ASCAP for Simic Songs, 2013
MAP Fund Grant for Beyond Zero, 2013
Composers’ Association of Serbia, 2012 Mokranjac Award for Mileva, best work premiered in Serbia in 2011
Gold Medal “Jovan Djordjevic” from Serbian National Theater for contribution to opera, for Mileva (2012)
Muzika Klasika 2011 Composer of the Year, for Mileva (Serbia, 2012)
Meet the Composer (2011, 2003, 2000)
Composers’ Association of Serbia Mokranjac Award for Stations (2010), best work premiered in Serbia in ‘09
American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Fellowship (2007)
Barlow Endowment (2006)
US Permanent Resident status as Alien Of Extraordinary Ability for achievement in the arts (2005)
American Music Center Copying Grant for The Widow’s Broom (2004)
Friends and Enemies of New Music, NY, US (2004), First prize for Canta Claro
The Douglas Moore Fellowship (2004)
ASCAP Leonard Bernstein Fund for participation at June in Buffalo (2003)
Friends and Enemies of New Music, NY (2003), Honorable Mention for C6 for solo guitar
Rackham Block Music Grant, University of Michigan, (2002)
J&V McIntosh Memorial Graduate Fellowship, University of Michigan (2001/02)
University of Michigan Humanities Fellowship (2001/02)
Rockefeller Bellagio Center Fellowship, Italy (2000)
University of Michigan Regents Fellowship (1999/2000, 2000/01)
Otto Eckstein Family Fellowship, Tanglewood (1999)
Gaudeamus/Gigant Center for the Arts Fellowship, Holland (1998)
SR Yugoslavia/Province of Vojvodina Artist Grant, Serbia (1997)
The Vienna Modern Masters Recording Award, Austria - USA (1997), First Prize for Times
Gaudeamus Foundation Grant, Holland (1996)
The Highsmith Composition Competition at SFCM, CA, USA (1996), First Prize for Times
San Francisco Conservatory Fellowship (1995/96)
Open Society/Soros Fond Grants, Serbia (1995, 1998)
SR Yugoslavia Ministry of Culture and Education Grant (1995)
Education:
Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Composition, University of Michigan (2002)
Master of Music in Music Composition, San Francisco Conservatory (1996)
Bachelor of Music in Music Composition, Novi Sad University, Yugoslavia (1992)
Additional Composition Studies:
Darmstadt International Music Courses, Germany (2000)
Tanglewood Music Center, USA (Osvaldo Golijov, George Benjamin, 1999)
Apeldoorn Young Composers’ Meeting, Holland (Louis Andriessen, Richard Barrett, 1998)
Prague Academy of Music, Czech Republic (Ivana Loudova, 1997)
New York University Summer Composition Workshop, USA (Justin Dello Joio, 1996)
Belgrade University, Yugoslavia (Zoran Eric, 1993 – 1994)
Summer Courses in Sombathely in collaboration with IRCAM, Hungary (Marco Stroppa, 1992)
Summer Courses in Kazimierz Dolny, collaboration with IRCAM, Poland (Magnus Lindberg, 1990)
Teachers - Composition and Theory:
Evan Chambers, Michael Daugherty, Andrew Mead (University of Michigan)
Osvaldo Golijov, George Benjamin, (Tanglewood Music Center)
Ivana Loudova (Prague Academy of Music)
Justin Dello Joio (New York University)
Elinor Armer, Conrad Susa (San Francisco Conservatory)
Zoran Eric, Miroslav Statkic (Serbia)
College Level Teaching:
Novi Sad University, Academy of Arts – Full Professor, Composition (2021)
Novi Sad University, Academy of Arts – Guest Professor, Composition, doctoral studies (2013- 2021)
CUNY/City College New York – Music Theory, Composition and Orchestration (2003-13)
University of Michigan – (GSI) Music Theory: Aural Skills (2000, 2001)
University of Michigan – (GSI) Introduction to Music Theory (2000)
Novi Sad University, Academy of Arts – Composition Seminar (1997, 1999)
Novi Sad University, Academy of Arts – Music Theory: Structural Analysis of Music I and II (1993, 1994, 1997, 1999)
Articles on Aleksandra Vrebalov:
Valentina Radovan: Identity Politics, Music, and Musical Discourse in the Age of Globalization, Muzikologija/Musicology, 2012 (12): p. 63-78
Robert Kirzinger: Aspects of Duality in Aleksandra Vrebalov’s Mileva, New Sound No. 40-2, 2012, p. 191-199
Ivana Stefanovic: Mileva i “Mileva,” Scena No. 4, 2011, YU ISSN 0036-5734 (In Serbian)
Milan Markovic: Intimni dnevnik opere Mileva, Nova Misao No.13, October 2011, (in Serbian)
Bogdan Ðakovic: The Road of the Cross and the Road of a Man — Stations, Matica srpska Journal of Stage Art and Music, No. 42, 2010, ISSN 0352-9738
David Harrington: …hold me, neighbor, in this storm…, Chamber Music Vol. 26, No. 5, 2009
Mirko Sebic/Adrian Kranjcevic: Stanice na putu, Nova Misao No.1, July 2009, in Serbian and English, p. 36 - 39
Tatjana Marković: "Vrebalov, Aleksandra," Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2nd ed., ed. by Ludwig Finscher (Kassel: Bärenreiter; Stuttgart: Metzler, 2008), 1053-1054
Brendan Tapley: Peaceful Measures, MacDowell Newsletter Vol. 37, No. 1, 2008
Tatjana Markovic: In Orbits of Aleksandra Vrebalov, New Sound No. 27, 2006 (in Serbian and English)
Ira Prodanov: Quotation in Works of Aleksandra Vrebalov, Collect papers of V International Symposium “Folklore-music-work”, Belgrade, 1997 (in Serbian and English)
Ira Prodanov: String Quartet No. 1 by Aleksandra Vrebalov, New Sound No. 9, 1997 (in Serbian and English)
From the reviews:
New York Times:
-- My Desert, My Rose....the composer describes as a series of patterns that are subject to the players’ in-the-moment choices as to length, meter, tempo and dynamics. The intricate, industrious patterns — involving plaintive lines, obsessive ostinatos, string scratchings and more — exuded adventure and intensity. (M. Tommasini)
-- “A gripping experience.” Beyond Zero: 1914 - 1918
-- “It’s a testament to Ms. Vrebalov’s skill that the result is a unified and purposeful work (Babylon, Our Own), combining depth and a great deal of surface polish, beauty and even fun. Her musical language, inflected with Balkan and klezmer idioms, is vivid and free of clichés. Its relationship to the music and poetry of the past — recorded, inherited, memorized — is refreshingly unneurotic.”
-- “Ur Song, an arresting aria from an opera in progress by Ms. Vrebalov.”
-- “spell no. 4, for a changing world, a premiere: a recording of a choral work by Ms. Vrebalov (“Slepacka molitva”) wafted through a gripping sequence of groans, cries and ethereal chords, punctuated with the sounds of chimes, shells and broken glass.”
…hold me, neighbor, in this storm… “a vibrant tapestry of urgent, sinister passages with insistent rhythms, lyrical interludes, raucous folk melodies and microtonal whispers.”
Wall Street Journal
-- “Yet Aleksandra Vrebalov’s “Bubbles” topped it for innovation, with Kronos joined by the vibraphonist Andy Meyerson and 30 members of the outstanding San Francisco Girls Chorus, conducted by Valerie Sainte-Agathe. Never have buzzing lips, piercing whoops, and giggling been so beguiling, and when these singers drew out “I Love You,” it was impossible not to be moved.”
San Francisco Chronicle:
-- “The moments when the suave vocal murmurations of Vrebalov’s score come together into a rich, moody harmony feel like the outcomes of some hard-won psychic battle….luminous and transparent score….this is music full of dramatic nuance and inventive delight — not merely the backdrop to the protagonist’s life passage but its very essence.” Joshua Kosman on Abraham In Flames.
GRAMOPHONE
— “the main highlights belong to Aleksandra Vrebalov’s evocative, soundscape-like Constellation Hartig for violin and prepared piano.” (Review of Dark Velvet, Challenge Classics 72906)
WQXR
—The Sea Ranch Songs, album of the week. “Aleksandra Vrebalov Reshapes California Minimalism with Kronos Quartet...the album creates a sense of wonder and connection with the natural world.”
Hyperallergic
-- Salome (film, 1923), soundtrack.....”a hypnotic score, by the contemporary Serbian New York-based composer, Aleksandra Vrebalov.”
Time Out New York
-- “Aleksandra Vrebalov's wrenching …hold me, neighbor, in this storm…”
The Times
-- “A strange and sober beauty.” Beyond Zero: 1914 - 1918
The Guardian (BBC Proms):
-- “Aleksandra Vrebalov's Hold Me, Neighbour, In This Storm was chilling and beautifully structured, with pre-recorded Serbian Orthodox church bells and Islamic calls for prayer.”
Washington Post:
-- “Babylon, a Clarice Smith commission (for Kronos Quartet and David Krakauer), is a searing 35-minute work.”
The Berkshire Review of Scotland, Edinburgh Festival:
-- “It’s an impressive and well-wrought piece (…hold me, neighbor, in this storm…), and I’ll certainly be looking out for Vrebalov’s work in the future.”
Cleveland Arts:
-- “The most impressive piece on Friday’s program came last, Aleksandra Vrebalov’s “…hold me, neighbor, in this storm…” In this audacious and affecting score, the Serbian composer evokes traumas and joys experienced by the Balkan people during the 20th century.
Vrebalov employs a vast soundscape in her jolting portrayal of violence, courage and defiance. Along with the intense interplay of the string quartet and occasional colorations of ethnic instruments, the narrative is catapulted by a tape of church bells, a woman singing a folk song and the chilling sound of exploding bombs. The performance seized the ears and sent the audience into the night with much to ponder.”
Danas (Serbia):
-- Opera Mileva – “Exceptional music by Aleksandra Vrebalov.”
Blic (Serbia):
-- Opera Mileva – “Supreme artistic experience.”
Opera Journal:
-- Opera Mileva – “Vrebalov scores with broad strokes and bold gestures in lush orchestration. There’s no minimalist picking and plonking here and there, but huge swathes of strings and floating melodies with violent interjections of stabbing brass and percussion.”
Lucid Culture:
-- “The richly hypnotic, glacially shifting, Messiaenesque tectonics of Aleksandra Vrebalov’s Eastern Chapel Meditations.”
BBC Music Magazine:
-- “Vrebalov's Spell, a mesmerising piece for violin interacting with live electronics and pre-recorded choral fragments.”