myra moreta
As an artist, my focus is collaboration with visual artists, performance artists, and other musicians while expanding my knowledge of contemporary art.
Collaborative art is of high importance to me. Modern telecommunications makes it possible to collaborate on a project in isolation from the other artists. However, I believe the work may have greater impact in meaning and emotion when there is interaction between two or more artists. I feel the need to know the personality and the work of other artists on a project.
Apparent in my compositions is the impact that world music has had on my life. In my undergraduate career, I studied Zimbabwean mbira and marimba music with Dr. Ric Alviso and attended seminars and workshops with visiting artists from Zimbabwe. My interest in Zimbabwean culture is not limited to music. After attending a workshop with a theatre group from Zimbabwe, I realized the importance of learning more than the music of a people, because the ideals and values of a culture apply throughout all of its arts. One such value is that of community.
I also have a strong interest in Bulgarian Women's Choir music and have studied under Tzvetanka Varimezova as well as performed with the UCLA Bulgarian Women's Choir, Superdevoiche. The choir was recently on tour in Bulgaria (summer 2008). Before embarking on the tour, I helped begin Trio Folkestra with Jessica Ng and Paula Peng. The trio performed at small venues in Los Angeles to raise funds for the Bulgaria Tour. I found many similarities between Zimbabwean and Bulgarian approaches to music (i.e. community, participation, dance). I seek to continue learning more about Bulgarian music.
My compositions deal with the absence or presence of a community and the creation/destruction of the “American” Dream. This is best illustrated in the concert piece “Chance Distribution”. The piece deals with the emotional tug of war that these dreams take us through. The piece builds and then exhausts itself and becomes simpler texturally and mathematically to create the feeling of ambition and hope which is often crushed by a reality where those ideas seem meaningless, and the cycle begins again almost coming to a climax at the last four bars. However, the piece falls apart as the musicians take their place back into a mundane existence.
It is my belief that our contemporary music stems from music of the world, not limited to the western world. I incorporate instruments such as the mbira, the Chinese er-hu, and even children’s toys in my work. The solo soprano piece “For Tara, With Love” is an example of how non western techniques can be applied in contemporary music. The challenge with this piece was to create a work for a solo monophonic instrument that takes the listener through a variety of emotions in a creative (and sometimes humorous) way.
I have a strong interest in the visual arts, particularly in photography and painting. I seek to learn more about these art forms. I welcome the opportunity to combine this knowledge and better understand the work of fellow artists and collaborators.