Donne in Musica

Aleksandra Vrebalov

(Novi Sad, 22nd September, 1970) is a composer based in New York City. She studied with Miroslav Štatkić at the Novi Sad University, then with Zoran Erić at Belgrade University, Elinor Armer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Ivana Loudova at the Prague Academy of Music. She obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan where she studied with Evan Chambers and Michael Daugherty. She has had performances of her works in more than forty-four countries. A highly regarded musician, she has had residences at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre, Tanglewood, New York’s New Dramatists, MacDowell Colony, and American Opera Projects, has received Awards or Fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Fellowship, Meet the Composer, Highsmith Composition Competition, Vienna Modern Masters, Serbian Fund for an Open Society, ASCAP and the Douglas Moore Fellowship. Her string quartet was recorded by the Kronos Quartet on their album Kronos Caravan (1999). In her orchestral work Orbits (2002), Vrebalov uses overlapping densities of sonorities and rhythmic proportions such as the Fibonacci series to portray her idiosyncratic post-modern conception of Musica universalis. Her ballet score, The Widow's Broom (2004) based on Chris Van Allsburg’s book was performed on Halloween by the Festival Ballet Providence. Her most recent works include Eastern Chapel Meditations, for violin, piano and pre-recorded sounds (2010), Harding Suite, for cello solo (2009), The Spell IV, for string quartet, Tibetan bowl, chimes and pre-recorded sounds, Written, for David Harrington and Kronos Quartet, The Spell, for piano and vibraphone, Commissioned by University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory of Music (2009), The Spell III, for violin and live electronics, for Ana Milosavljević (2008).

Antonella Vitale

(Roma 21 Giugno 1964), cantante, autrice di testi, compositrice jazz. Ha iniziato i suoi studi musicali nel 1990 presso la Scuola Popolare di Musica di Testaccio dove ha studiato canto jazz con Giuppi Paone, e pianoforte con Andrea Beneventano e ha frequentato i laboratori di improvvisazione jazz tenuti da Nicola Stilo e Roberto Ottimi. Già nel 1993 ha lavorato come corista per diverse produzioni discografiche ed è stata cantante solista della “Big Band” ed ha partecipato al “Roma Europa Festival”, ed a “Ciampino Jazz” con il duo “Jazz Tandem”. Nel 1995 ha frequentato lo stage di Maria Pia de Vito e nel 1998 è stata premiata al “Concorso Nazionale Musicisti Città di Latina”. Da allora collabora con varie formazioni di Trio e Quartetto con i maggiori esponenti del jazz italiano e dal 2002 ha registrato una serie di CD come solista dove presenta anche le sue composizioni. Attualmente prosegue l’attività concertistica di cantante e compositrice ed inoltre ha un’intensa attività come insegnante di canto moderno. Fino al 2004 è stata docente presso la Mississippi Jazz School di Roma e dal 2005 insegna canto jazz presso l’Università della Musica a Roma. E’ la voce solista nell’“Orchestra Jazz” diretta da Gerardo di Lella. La Vitale è autrice di musiche per sonorizzazioni per l’etichetta “Primrose Music” e ha composto le musiche per i cortometraggi: “Zenzero” e “Poco più di due passi” per la regia di Pino di Persio. Ha anche scritto le musiche e i testi dei brani inclusi nei CD "The Look Of Love", “Amara”, “Tra la sabbia e il Mare Aperto”, "La Palma", e “Raindrops”.

Biljana Vasiljević-Drašković

(Jagodina, 4th August, 1955), composer and theoretician teaching harmony, counterpoint and composition in the Mokranjać Music School in Belgrade has a special interest in the exploration of musical harmony and its application in the compositional process. She studied piano, trombone and composition with Mirjana Šistek, and composition with Enriko Josif at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. There are two phases in her compositional output: the first encompasses works created under the strong influence of Arnold Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School, based on the principles of serial music while in the second she switches series with melodies drawn from the folk singing that she heard at an early age. Her compositions have been performed in Belgrade – Musica Viva, 1987, Second memorial Emil Hajek, 1990, Serbian music for harpsichord, 1996, USA (Piano Music, New York, 1991, Israel Kol HaMusika, Jerusalem, 1998) and in England (Ritual Dance in Harpsichord Music, 2001). Her works include Furioso, for piano (1976), Variations, for two pianos (1977), Adagio, for strings (1978), Pokreti (Movements), for string quintet (1979), Milosti (Mercy), for mixed choir and symphony orchestra (1982-1986), Balada, for voice and flutes (1987), Vaskrsenje, for solo instruments (strings and voice) (1990), Milosti, for chamber ensemble (1991), Prevrnuta kolevka, for string instrument (2001), Žene u crnom, for electric guitar (1997-2007).