Veronika Krausas


Veronika Judita Krausas is a Canadian composer who lives and works in the United States.
WWW veronikakrausas.com

Biography

She was born in Sydney, Australia but grew up in Canada after the age of four. Her diplomas in music education and performance were completed at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ontario. She also completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Calgary, a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Toronto, a master's degree at McGill University in Montreal, and a doctorate from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she received the outstanding DMA in Composition award. In 2004 she won the Theodore Front Prize for her Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, one of the "Search for New Music awards" presented by The International Alliance for Women in Music.
She is currently an Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California at the Thornton School of Music. She is also the Assistant Director of Undergraduate music theory at USC, on the advisory board of Jacaranda Music, an associate director of The Industry, a pre-concert lecturer at the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra, and an artist with Catalysis Projects.

Music

Veronika’s works have been performed in Canada, the United States, Australia, Germany, Romania, and the Netherlands. Through her production company, Vera Ikon Productions, she has produced and composed music for yearly shows since her arrival in Los Angeles.
Her electronic work Waterland received its European premiere in Lyon, France, in October 2010. A commission for the 25th Anniversary of the San Francisco Choral Artists and the Alexander String Quartet, using text by the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, was premiered in May 2011 in San Francisco.

Works

Opera
  • the mortal thoughts of lady macbeth for soprano, 2 mezzos, alto, 9 instruments, 22:00
Orchestral
  • les reflets du chapeau claque de la lune..., full orchestra: 2/2 /2 /2 ; 4/3/2 /1; timp; 3 perc; hrp; pno; strings, 9:42
Instrumental chamber music
  • analemma for 11 musicians, 14:00
  • stone for solo double bass and narrator, 8:43
  • us.we.are for solo cello, 7:00
  • Inside the Stone for viola solo
  • 5 intermezzi for 2 guitars, 12:34
  • cloisonne for solo double bass and film, 6:42
  • il sole e l'altre stelle for string quartet, 6:30
Vocal chamber music
  • midaregami for string quartet and mezzo-soprano, 19:00
  • Shade, text by Andre Alexis, soprano, horn, bass, percussion, 15:00
Piano
  • ''Player Piano Project''

Writings

  • in + on, photography book of graffiti and writings found in and on the streets of 20 cities around the world
  • errata: a curious collection of corrections, with Renee Reynolds

Grants and commissions

  • Motion Ensemble
  • The Canada Council
  • A Millennium Commissioning Grant
  • Two Interdisciplinary Arts Initiative grants in Los Angeles

Recordings

  • Mnemosyne solo and chamber works, the Motion Ensemble
  • The Music of Veronika Krausas compilation of orchestral, chamber and solo works
  • FOOD: New Music for Guitar Duo

Music and DVD publications

  • The Bestiary/Le Bestaire, Frederick Harris Music Publishers
  • Catastrophe Apostrophe: A Trio of Curio Films by Quintan Ana Wikswo with the Music of Veronika Krausas. DVD Published by Catalysis Projects.