Biography
Photo: MixUpNYC
Best known for her fusion of classical music, media and electronic music, Sarajevo-born and NYC-based Svjetlana Bukvich is regarded as one of the most innovative and dynamic avant-electro-classical American composers. She first came to the attention of the European music world following her appearances as featured soloist with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s 1st Piano Concerto at the age of 16, and the following year with Edinburgh George Heriot’s Symphony Orchestra with the 2nd Concerto. Driven by a need to express beyond interpretation, Ms. Bukvich earned degrees in Composition and Musicology at the University of Sarajevo Music Academy, all the while developing a special interest in microtonality and electronic sound. These pursuits led to her participation in the Intensive Composition Workshop in Grožnjan, lstria where she worked with some of the leading lights in European contemporary music. By twenty-one, Ms. Bukvich had composed her first symphony and had works published by Frost Music (Norway). These works, including her music for theater and TV were about to be presented when the war in Yugoslavia intervened.
Under circumstances that read like a political war thriller, she left her besieged hometown with the help of the Soros Open Society Foundation which provided her with a stipend and a one-way ticket to America. She continued her studies with a full scholarship from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York where her interests broadened to include music synthesis, programming, avant-garde performance, and video art. In 1994, she was awarded with one of the first M.F.A. degrees in multimedia offered in the United States. Among her early mentors were Carl Stone, Neil Rolnick, Philip Glass, Kurt Munkacsi, Martin Bresnick, and Robert Ashley.
Ms. Bukvich’s music for dance, film, and the concert stage has been presented across the U.S., and internationally, including Beijing, London, Helsinki, Johannesburg, Belgrade, Yogyakarta, Odessa, Birmingham, Antwerpen, and Berlin. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships and commissions, most notably from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), New Music USA, USArtists International, American Composers Forum, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), The Frances Richard Fund for Innovative Artists of Promise, and the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University.
She is featured in the book In Her Own Words: Conversations with Composers in the United States where she is identified as one of the 25 outstanding women composers whose “processes can be viewed as alternatives to convention, for they expand accepted definition of composition and venue…”.
A sought-after collaborator, Ms. Bukvich has worked with diverse ensembles and instrumentalists such as ETHEL string quartet, the Sarajevo Philharmonic, Shattered Glass Ensemble, The Lafayette Chorale, Sylvan Winds, Martha Mooke, Tony Levin, Mari Kimura, Rob Schwimmer, Cornelius Dufallo, Johnny Reinhard, Leonardo Suarez Paz, Kamala Sankaram, Ha-Yang Kim, Susan Aquila, Eddie Venegas, Jessica Meyer, Jacqui Kerrod and Mordy Ferber, among many others. Carolyn Dorfman Dance, Janis Brenner & Dancers, the Ballet of National Theater Sarajevo, Jeanette Stoner and Dancers, and the Korean American Dance Association (iKADA) commissioned her music for choreographic works that received rave reviews and are continually performed.
Described as “ecstatic musical experience” (New Music Connoisseur), her productions have been featured at The Kennedy Center, the Tribeca Film Festival, New York City Electronic Music Festival, The EAR Classical, American Festival of Microtonal Music, the New York Times Center, The Knitting Factory, Brooklyn’s Bargemusic, Rose Studio at Lincoln Center, Berklee Performance Center, Music With A View Festival, Sarajevo Winter Festival, Serial Underground at the Cornelia Street Café, The Kitchen, Cooper Union, The Anthology Film Archives, (le) Poisson Rouge, ASCAP’s Thru The Walls Series, La MaMa, Audible Visions, New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), W.E.A.L.R. New Music Festival California, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, The Cutting Room, Gibney’s Agnes Varis Dance Center, Sarajevo Film Festival, Bickford Theater in New Jersey, Alvin Ailey City Center, Lloyd Ultan Hall in Minneapolis, National Theater Sarajevo, Art OMI, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center in Florida, Roulette, Drom, Inner Voices New Music Festival, Faust Harrison Pianos, Illuminate Women’s Music in Birmingham UK, Tenri Cultural Institute, Split Summer Festival in Croatia, Williams Center for the Arts in Pennsylvania, Spectrum, Wilkins Theater in New Jersey, KoDaFe International Dance Film Festival, An Die Musik LIVE, La Guardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC), the Bohemian Hall, and Opera America.
In 2014 Parma Recordings released her solo album EVOLUTION, followed by EXTENSION in 2020; both collections have since garnered critical acclaim and have received radio play worldwide. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York broadcast, and then reprised, selections from these works in the MetLiveArts’ best-of-season showcase.
Ms. Bukvich is a contributing author in Modern Diplomacy magazine and in the book Perspectives on Music Production: Gender in Music Production published by Focal Press, UK.
“Bukvich’s creative, fictocritical essay draws on detailed memories of musical epiphany in order to reveal episodic insight into sonic revelation, gender relations, genre hybridity, and artistic collaborations.”
Russ Hepworth-Sawyer, Jay Hodgson, Liesl King, Mark Marrington, Editors
Her work is part of the official archives at Furman University, the Proceedings of Electronic Visualisation & the Arts (EVA) London, Cyland Media Arts, Cornell University, York University, Princ Albert University, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, and the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, Germany. She is a board member of the Electronic Music Foundation Institute (EMFI), the American Festival of Microtonal Music (AFMM), Composers Concordance, and an honoree in Selected Honors, Awards & Achievements in ASCAP Concert Music. As Head of Mission with the Permanent Mission of the Austro-Bosnian Academy to the United Nations in New York, and through the Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy of Arts and Sciences (BHAAAS), she promotes international artistic exchanges and collaborations.
Ms. Bukvich is currently tenured Associate Professor at City University of New York (CUNY) and has previously held positions as Adjunct Professor at Pratt Institute and New York University (NYU).
Short Biography
Best known for her fusion of classical music, media and electronic music, Sarajevo-born and NYC-based Svjetlana Bukvich is regarded as one of the most innovative and dynamic avant-electro-classical American composers.
Described as “ecstatic musical experience” (New Music Connoisseur), her music for dance, film, and the concert stage has been presented across the U.S., including The Kennedy Center, the Tribeca Film Festival, Brooklyn’s Bargemusic, Rose Studio at Lincoln Center, Berklee Performance Center, The Kitchen, Cooper Union, The Anthology Film Archives, (le) Poisson Rouge, La MaMa, the New York Times Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), W.E.A.L.R. New Music Festival, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, The Cutting Room, Tenri Cultural Institute, Alvin Ailey City Center, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, Roulette, Faust Harrison Pianos, Williams Center for the Arts, the Bohemian Hall, Opera America, and internationally, in Beijing, London, Helsinki, Yogyakarta, Belgrade, Johannesburg, Odessa, Birmingham, Antwerpen and Berlin.
Ms. Bukvich is the recipient of numerous fellowships and commissions, most notably from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), New Music USA, USArtists International, American Composers Forum, New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), The Frances Richard Fund for Innovative Artists of Promise, and the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University. She is featured in the book In Her Own Words: Conversations with Composers in the United States where she is identified as one of the 25 outstanding women composers whose “processes can be viewed as alternatives to convention, for they expand accepted definition of composition and venue…”.
A sought-after collaborator, Ms. Bukvich has worked with diverse ensembles and instrumentalists such as ETHEL String Quartet, the Sarajevo Philharmonic, Shattered Glass Ensemble, The Lafayette Chorale, Sylvan Winds, Martha Mooke, Tony Levin, Mari Kimura, Eddie Venegas, Rob Schwimmer, Kamala Sankaram, Susan Aquila, and Jessica Meyer, among many others.
In 2014 Parma Recordings released her solo album EVOLUTION, followed by EXTENSION in 2020; both collections have since garnered critical acclaim and have received radio play worldwide. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York broadcast, and then reprised, selections from these works in the MetLiveArts’ best-of-season showcase.
Ms. Bukvich is a contributing author in the book Perspectives on Music Production: Gender in Music Production published by Focal Press, UK. She currently serves as tenured Associate Professor at City University of New York (CUNY) and has previously held positions as Adjunct Professor at Pratt Institute and New York University (NYU).