Aleksandra Bajde

Composer-performer, founding director of the CSL & researcher

NEWS

UPCOMING EVENTS

  • June 28 (tbc), 2024 | New commissioned work Digitalise Me for saxophone, electric guitar, drum set will be premiered in the framework of .abeceda Contemporary Festival in Bled (SI)
  • June 19, 2024 | iPiece for ensemble, electronics, smartphones, video projection, light, performance elements, and audience participation will be performed by Vertixe Sonora Ensemble at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz (AT)
  • May (tbc), 2024 | Engagement seminar on cultural relations and sustainability at the Centre of Excellence in Cultural Relations and Diplomacy (CREDO) of the University of Siena (IT)
  • May 6 – 10, 2024 | 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)
  • April 18, 2024 | New commissioned work for viola and violoncello will be premiered in the framework of Slovenian Music Days at Slovenian Philharmonic in Ljubljana (SI)
  • October 22, 2023 | iPiece for ensemble, electronics, smartphones, video projection, light, performance elements and audience participation will be premiered by Vertixe Sonora Ensemble in the framework of the series Do Audible 23 at Auditorio Martín Códax in Vigo (ES)
  • October 12, 2023 | PINK VOID with Isabella Forciniti, Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka, and Pia Palme in the framework of shut up and listen! 2023 at echoraum in Vienna (AT)
  • September 29, 2023| Workshop Culture and the SDGs in the framework of the conference on STEAM Transfer at Atelierhaus der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (AT)
  • June 13, 2023 | A Clockwork Duo for violin and violoncello will be performed by duo strings&noise in the framework of Blurred Edges Festival at Künstlerhaus FAKTOR in Hamburg (DE)
  • June 7, 2023 | A Clockwork Duo for violin and violoncello will be performed by duo strings&noise at echoraum in Vienna (AT)
  • June 6, 2023 | Webinar Bridging the Gap – From STEM to STEAM in the framework of the Knowledge transfer center east’s cooperation project From STEM to STEAM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Arts-Mathematics)
  • April 21, 2023 | Performance in collaboration with Isabella Forciniti (electronics) and Uršula Berlot (visuals) in the framework of Sonica Festival at Cukrarna in Ljubljana (SI)
  • March 26, 2023 | A Room for harp, harpsichord, recorder, flute, 4 lamps, and electronics was premiered by airborne extended in the framework of  Slovenian Music Days at Knight’s Hall, Križanke in Ljubljana (SI)
  • March 24, 2023 | A Room for harp, harpsichord, recorder, flute, 4 lamps, and electronics was performed by airborne extended at SKC Korotan in Vienna (AT)
  • March 25 – 26, 2023 | One of the speakers for the Sci_Art – Art+Science+Technology Symposium – at SAW Gallery in Ottawa (CA)

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 cultural diplomacy and EU cultural policy.

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. In 2021, she was selected for the Global Cultural Relations Programme 2021, and in 2022, for the Break Fellowship Programme for EU Women Entrepreneurs. She was one of the SHAPE+ artists 2022. Her work is supported by the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, 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 and its expression, while also forging new links with other art forms and genres. She continuously expands her sound palette through 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.

She is Founding Director of the Culture and Sustainability Lab. Currently, she also 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 in diplomacy at the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Slovenia in France and at 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 and in 2021, she was selected for the Global Cultural Relations Programme 2021. 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). She is particularly interested in exploring potentials of culture and creative approaches and developing interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral, and cross-cultural collaboration projects that foster innovation and sustainability.

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

LISTEN & WATCH

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

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VIDEO

Aleksandra Bajde & Isabella Forciniti

ABOUT

Aleksandra Bajde (voice, grand piano, sound objects) & Isabella Forciniti (electronics, modular synthesizers)

LISTEN & WATCH