Music I Am #4 – Elena Ruehr, composer
- Interviews, Music I Am
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1. The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:
When I was a senior in high school and realized there was nothing else I wanted to do.
2. An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:
Being an efficient and savvy business person.
3. Two ways you stay motivated:
I’m inspired by the musician/performers I work with and also by my students at MIT.
4. Latest album or recording project:
Icarus
4a. What inspired it:
The performers and the stories I wanted to tell–it’s all program music. The first piece on the recording, A Thousand Cranes, is the story of children of war, inspired by the experiences the Delgani’s violist Kimberlee Uwate told me about her grandparents during WWII. The second piece was inspired by the story of Icarus, but told from the point of view of relationship of father and son working together. The Worlds Revolve, third on the CD, is inspired by poetry of T.S. Eliot. Lastly is Insect Dances which was written as a work for listeners of all ages, and is now an animated film for kids and adults.
4b. Who’s on it:
Borromeo, Delgani and Arneis Quartets with Donald Berman and Jon Manassee
5. How do you discover new music?
By listening to my friends and colleagues music.
6. One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:
Living is composer Reena Esmail: I think she is the next most cool up and coming young composer. Dead musician is my old teacher Vincent Persichetti, whose music is lovely and not performed as much as it should be.
Elena Ruehr, Composer
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