In a modern era where the beauty and craft of classical music is oft overlooked and forgone for the sake of easy listening, when a talent break through, they have to push the generic boundaries and balance commercial appeal with artistic resonance. A perfect example of such is the incredible, Platinum-selling composer and pianist Alexandra Stréliski, who is revolutionising the modern classic field with her intricate and emotive approach.
Back in 2010, Stréliski unveiled her debut album, Pianoscope, an enthralling, evolutionary showcase of the award winners compositional nuance and performance acumen. The LP saw her render an adoring fan base who resonated with the brevity and intricacy of Stréliski’s work, a feat that she augmented with the follow up body of work, INSCAPE; released eight years after the debut, the album illustrated the musicians artistic growth and sonic progression. Stréliski’s work has been featured in the likes of Dallas Buyers Club and Big Little Lies, and had her music played at the Oscars.
She has now returned with her third album Néo-Romance, a triumphant yet melancholic affair. In the creation of the project, Stréliski moved to be with her partner, and discovered the extent of her French, Polish and Jewish roots. Becoming intertwined with romanticism, the 14-pronged album delves deep into the emotional capacity of the composer; delicate and dainty yet daring, poignant passionate, and potent, Néo-Romance is a work of art of the higher esteem, with Stréliski cementing herself into the very highest echelon of modern neo-classical artists.
We had the pleasure of connecting with Stréliski, discussing her new album, and hearing her thoughts on the modern classical music landscape.
For information about her sold out show in London, click here.
Watch Alexandra Stréliski perform pieces from her new album, “Néo-Romance,” live at Verhalenhuis Bélvèdere.
Now for the interview…
Hi! How are you?
I’m good. I’m doing French promo and I’m on tour, doing a show tonight in Paris. And I was just in Berlin yesterday — we had to drive from Berlin… tour life! It’s fun. I’m starting to present the show. It’s all new and I’m getting to see how the songs are gonna live on stage, which is always a nice thing.
Who and what influences you to create and has that evolved over time as your music has evolved?
I mean, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is an influence to me because I feel that I’m a sponge in life. And I just kind of get a bit of this and a bit of that, and it could be a movie or it can be what someone said on the radio that I found inspiring philosophically. And then, you know, I get inspired by pretty much everything around me, by human existence. I get very motivated by expressing an emotion, I’m going to look for emotional sincerity in my life and in my relationships. And I think that is one of the key things of what I do. Because ultimately, for me, music is emotion. And you need to have this spontaneous kind of relationship to it. But on a more artistic level, I get very inspired by film soundtracks, I always have. I also listen to super mainstream pop music. Also, stuff like ambient music. I had some metal phases in my life, I had some techno phases, hip hop. So it’s very varied, to be honest, but I would say for sure, films are a big part of my life. And it’s like a mix between pop soundtracks and classical music. That’s how I would kind of describe what I do.
It’s evident in your sound, how many different influences you have. How would you describe the essence of your style, and of your sound?
I think it’s film scores, classical — core, classical. I was very heavily classically trained. I studied for, like, 25 years in the Conservatoire, I had a Russian teacher, very technical, so that’s a heavy background in classical music that you can obviously find in my records. But I would say that the pop aspect and the film aspect are also very present. And on my last record, I have little pieces that are like a sampling nearly of composers. I have a first left hand and one song that is like “Ave Maria” by Schubert. And then I have some Chopin influences in there, you know, I play around with it — a bit like you would with sampling, in a way.
It’s interesting because those aren’t influences that the average listener might pick up on, but it’s still just as impactful.
They’re influences that we bath in, and we don’t really know but we know — it’s just part of our lives, even if you don’t know that it’s Chopin or Schubert, you’ve heard it before, you’ve heard it in a film, you’ve heard it in maybe your parents house or in a coffee shop, it’s part of our life. Classical music is part of our lives much more than we know. Because it’s history really. And I think it’s a very powerful thing. Because it touches zones within our humanity that are very large, very complex. I think it’s a type of music that speaks a lot with using just a few notes sometimes, and maybe in a different emotional array than you would have in pop music or hip hop, I think it’s a very profound type of music.
What do you think about the current modern classical music landscape? What are your opinions and who inspires you?
My first album was in 2010. I’ve been doing this since I was six, and I’ll hopefully do it until I’m 90 years old. So I’ve never been really interested in being in a genre and a movement, it sort of just happened that what I was doing was pretty trendy, you know, 15 years ago. And now there’s a lot of that type of music, it blew up because of playlists and platforms. And I think the labels got interested in it because there were a lot of streams, there was a commercial interest. So then you see more and more labels, more and more artists in that sphere. And of those artists, I think there are amazing ones. And I think there are more average things, just like in any type of genre of music, really. And I think what we’re seeing now is there’s a lot of offers. And so it’s nice to see where everybody sits. I think now because there’s so many of us, it’s you know, and that’s why I called my album Néo-Romance because personally, I think I would identify more with the Romantics if you’re to put a sign on me. And I have some friends, other composers that I feel are maybe more Impressionists than I am. It’s not that when you compose with a piano, when you play some strings or electronics, that you’re doing the same thing as another person using a piano and strings. It’s about the language, the emotional language and the harmonic structures. I think it’s wonderful that people have more and more access to instrumental music, because I really feel like it plays a role in society. I think it’s an amazing thing to have, for instance, an audience around a piano. It’s like this kind of communion moment. And I think, as a collective, it’s something that is really good for us. I think it’s healing in a way. So I think that’s wonderful that people are getting more and more acquainted with that. And then I think there are some things that just don’t really speak to me also in that realm, obviously, you know, just like everything else.
Speaking of your new album, would you be able to talk about the process behind its creation?
I had more time during the pandemic, because everything stopped. Touring stopped. I was going to galas in Canada, I was about to go on stage at the Juno Awards, and it got cancelled. So I flew to Amsterdam, where my girlfriend lives and I just had time, suddenly. So I started creating like that — I was in another country, I was in a new relationship, and I had a new piano. I couldn’t go to the store so I called them and said, “I’m a pianist. I really need to compose an album, can you help me out and find me an interesting piano?” I needed to be magical. As it turns out, it worked out pretty well because it was inspiring and, and so that was the context in which I wrote it. Also, I was discovering some stories about my own family and about my background and where I come from. They were musicians, Jewish musicians, and so I went to see their houses where they lived… I was kind of on my own identity thing. And they’re street musicians so I wanted to put some of that in too, as a bit of an homage to them. And, yeah, then I recorded it in my home studio in Montreal, with Max and my boys that I love and that I’ve been working with since three records already — they’re my team, my family. And it’s just been so much fun. It’s just full of love, really, this album. It’s new love, it’s love for my team, love for the strings and musicians that I’m working with.
What are you hoping people take away from the album?
As an artist, you create something, and then you put it out in the world, but what I love and what inspires me all the time is creating images within people, and an emotional sincerity. I think that those are the two things that I hope people can get from the record — kind of dream away and feel sincere with themselves, just like I try to do when I create.
Is there anything that you’re really excited about in the short term future or long term?
I’m super excited about the shows, especially in Montreal, we set up this really nice scenography, a very original thing. I hope that gets to travel. And then I’m always excited about getting some film projects and scoring for film. I always have loved to do that. So hopefully, there’s a project that resonates deeply that comes by after this.