Composer Alla Borzova closes the Cabrillo Festival in the new world

“To the New World” will have its U.S. premiere on the closing night of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Sunday, Aug. 10 at the Mission San Juan Batista.  Borzova based the music on an imaginary ship that brings immigrants of various nationalities to the shores of America, including German, Irish, Italian, Jewish, African, Latin-American and Chinese. The work reflects the ethnic musical styles brought by these immigrants to the new world and was commissioned by Brooklyn College.

Borzova seems naturally suited to write a score about emigrating to the U.S. because she did just that herself. Born in Minsk, Belarus in 1961, she began playing the piano at 6 and went on to graduate from the Moscow Conservatory. She emigrated to the U.S. in 1993 and became an American citizen in 2001. “I myself emigrated to the United States. But I didn’t come to Ellis Island. It was closed already. I flew by airplane, but, you know, it’s still the same experience,” she remembers.

Borzova lives in New York and “To the New World” reflects some of the range of music that can be heard in different neighborhoods of NYC, including elements of everything from Klezmer melodies and Irish jigs to the sacred rhythms of Africa. Jazz is a prominent element in her music. “What represents America for me is jazz,” she explains.

Borzova also drew inspiration from the point of entry for so many immigrants. “Just before I started to write “To the New World,” I visited Ellis Island for inspiration,” says Borzova. “There are several well-known pictures and I used one of them for the cover of my score. One very famous picture is of a ship of immigrants approaching the Brooklyn shores and the immigrants see the statue of liberty and they wave their hats and children run and everyone is happy. I thought about these immigrants and their various fates; some of them will be extremely successful and some will probably not. And some maybe will be turned back to where they came from.”

Borzova’s life has changed a lot since she landed in the new world. “Coming here was starting a new life. Everything was absolutely different from where I grew up, in the Soviet Union.” One major difference she describes is support for music and the arts.

“I am a member of the Belarusian Composer’s Union and it meant quite a lot in the former Soviet Union,” says Borzova. “You just bring a piece of music to the union and they engrave it for you and extract parts and I wouldn’t even be involved in this process.  Here in the U.S. I have to produce my own score and publish it, extract parts and submit it to the orchestra. In the U.S. it’s not state supported, so a composer is very lonely and on his or her own, which is not easy.”

Borzova remains an optimist: “There are always difficulties in this life and the main task is to overcome the difficulties and to see good in life. I always try to do this. Everything happens on the eternal rhythm of time. This is how I take my own life and what happens to me. I enjoy this spiritual travel through times and spaces.”

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