Aleksandra Bajde
Cultural manager, researcher, and composer-performer
About
Aleksandra Bajde is a Slovenian composer-performer, cultural manager, and researcher living in Vienna. In her native country, she studied the violin, the piano, and classical singing at the Maribor Music and Ballet Conservatory. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in jazz singing from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Social Sciences in a Bachelor’s (Honours) degree program in the liberal arts and sciences from Amsterdam University College. During her undergraduate studies, she was selected for an Erasmus Program at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. She completed a trilingual master’s in Advanced European and International Studies at the European Institute in France and a master’s degree in composition with distinction at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität in Linz, where she studied under the guidance of Carola Bauckholt and Christoph Cech. Here she also pursued a Master’s degree in Jazz Singing under Elfi Aichinger. She is currently pursuing a PhD in political science at the University of Vienna. Her research interests include EU foreign cultural policy and EU cultural policy. She held workshops and presentations on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), EU cultural policy, culture, arts & sustainability at international conferences and symposiums.
She is a Co-founder of the Culture and Sustainability Lab. Currently, she works as the Office and Project Manager at the Austrian Section of the International Society for Contemporary Music. From October 2022 to September 2023, she held a position as a lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and taught a course on sustainability-focused Project Management for Musicians. From September 2014 to September 2018, she served as the Project Manager and Secretary at the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras. Previously, she acquired professional experience at the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Slovenia in France and the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Vienna.
EU, CULTURE & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
“As we find ourselves amidst fully-fledged ‘glocal’ issues, such as the rapidly changing world of politics, the ongoing refugee and immigration crisis, climate change, etc., we have reached the point at which the need for effective cultural, socio-political, and environmental models and solutions is at its highest. As a cultural practitioner and a social sciences postgraduate, I more than ever feel a duty to contribute to the improvement of those issues by using the potential of social science research, creativity, and my professional experience to work on and be involved in projects that will produce effective solutions and shape sustainable and collective futures”.
In 2020, she was selected for the European Music Council Fellowship Programme 2020-2022. During the European Music Council Fellowship Programme 2020-2022, she developed a workshop for artists – Creating New Synergies Between Artistic Fields, EU Cultural Policy, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals – under the mentorship of Victoria Liedbergius (EMC President). In 2021, she was selected for the Global Cultural Relations Programme 2021. As an alumna of the EU-funded Global Cultural Relations Programme, she was privileged to lead the international project Culture and the SDGs: enhancing creative cross-sectoral collaborations. In 2024, she was a selected participant for the Co-Creational Jam Session on Cultural Relations and Sustainability at the Centre of Excellence in Cultural Relations and Diplomacy (CREDO) of the University of Siena (IT). During the session, she collaborated with a researcher on a policy brief and presentation titled “Enduring Efforts and Sustainable Effects in Cultural Projects”. She is particularly interested in exploring the potential of culture and creative approaches and developing interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral, and cross-cultural collaboration projects that foster innovation and sustainability.
Article Sustainability and Cultural Events (in German) published by mica – music austria
Music Composition
Her music has been performed in several European countries, including Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and the Netherlands, as well as in prominent venues and festivals, i.e., Alte Schmiede, Porgy & Bess, Wien Modern, Brucknerhaus Linz, Leicht über Linz, Crossroads Festival in Austria; November Music, Operadagen Rotterdam in the Netherlands; Cologne Opera in Germany; Ljubljana New Music Forum, Slovenian Philharmonic, Cankarjev dom in Slovenia and many more.
She has been a recipient of several scholarships from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Austria, including a ”Startstipendium” for Music and Performing Arts (2019) and a State Scholarship for Composition (2022). In 2020, she was awarded the Theodor Körner Förderpreis for composition and was selected for the European Music Council Fellowship Programme 2020 – 2022. She was one of the SHAPE+ artists 2022. In 2024, she was a composer in residency at the Institute .abeceda – Institute for Research in Art, Critical Thinking and Philosophy (SI). Her work is supported by the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, the City of Vienna, and SKE.
Her recent work can be characterized as a hybrid of composed and improvised music that includes elements of performance art. Her main interest lies in exploring and experimenting with the endless possibilities of sound while also forging new links with other art forms and genres. She continuously expands her sound palette through the incorporation of unconventional singing and playing techniques, different sound objects, and electronic sounds. She aims to create exciting, impulsive music, whereby her main focus lies on creating different, high-contrast music scenes and situations. As she works with an expanded palette of both sonic and visual components, her artistic approach is inherently interdisciplinary.
Interviews & Talks
From tradition of Ipavec family into the world (in Slovenian) – a series of conversations with Slovenian composers of the younger generation – with the guest Aleksandra Bajde and the moderator prof. Gregor Deleja
On cultural diplomacy and contemporary music. Talk with Darja Korenčan Korez on the Radio-Television Slovenia 1 (in Slovenian) Profil: Aleksandra Bajde
Večer (in Slovenian): Aleksandra Bajde: Dunaj in Avstrija cenita umetnost
Donne 365 (in English): Meet the ComposHER: Aleksandra Bajde
mica – music austria (in German): „[Meine] Musik ist eng mit meiner Persönlichkeit verknüpft“
mica – music austria (in German): STRUKTURIERT-EXPERIMENTELLE IMPROVISATIONEN – ALEKSANDRA BAJDE UND ISABELLA FORCINITI IM PORTRÄT
SELECTED PROjECTS
iPiece (2023)
a multimedia piece for ensemble, electronics, smartphones, video projection, light, performance elements, and audience participation
For further information please click here.
Tactile Immateriality (2023)
a multimedia performance in collaboration with Isabella Forciniti (electronics) and Uršula Berlot (visuals)
For more information please click here.
A Room (2023)
a piece for harp, harpsichord, recorder, flute, 4 lamps, and electronics
For more information please click here.
The Animal Within (2022)
an interactive performance for voice, sound objects, electronics, modular synthesizers, performance, and audience participation in collaboration with Isabella Forciniti (composition, electronics) & Brigitte Wilfing (performance, choreography)
For more information please cleick here.
das ist ein missverständnis (2022)
for voice, grand piano, sound objects, electronics, and performance in collaboration with Isabella Forciniti (composition, electronics)
For more information please click here.
Self-Portraits in Imaginary Places
About
Self-Portraits in Imaginary Places is a scenic musical work for a female singer/performer, ensemble, electronics, movement, video and light, which was awarded with the Theodor Körner Förderpreis 2020.
Creative team
Aleksandra Bajde | concept, composition, voice, performance
Lili M. Rampre | choreography, movement
Conny Zenk | light architecture
in collaboration with
Isabella Forciniti | electronics, modular synthesizers
Schallfeld Ensemble
In cooperation with International Society for Contemporary Music-Austrian Section, NOW! Oper der Gegenwart, Cankarjev dom, Festival City of Women, and HAZE – Association for the promotion of transdisciplinary art and technologies.
Supported by the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, City of Vienna, Theodor Körner Fonds, SKE, Austrian Cultural Forum Ljubljana, State of Styria, City of Graz, LSG and AKM/GFÖM.
Visible and invisible worlds of Aleksandra Bajde – review of Self-Portraits in Imaginary Places (in Slovenian)
Self-Portraits in Imaginary Places – review (in Slovenian)
Photos
