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March 17, 2006
Composer finds roots
Lustig's work will be performed this Friday night.
VERONIKA STEWART
Although Leila Lustig, a Victoria composer with a PhD in composition,
didn't know she was half-Jewish until she was 18, she says since
learning about her heritage, she now understands the origins of
her creative side.
"A lot of musicians are Jewish, and a lot of composers,"
Lustig said. "The part of my Jewish background that I didn't
know about is what makes me a creative person. [It's a] background
that is interested in learning new things."
She also said that her father's status as an inventor adds fuel
to her genetic tendency towards creativity.
"My father was an inventor – I think that imposition of
creativity probably led me to be a composer," said Lustig.
Since moving from the United States 20 years ago, Lustig said she
has learned more about her Jewish roots, and her newfound knowledge
has begun to spill over into her work.
"I belong to the Society for Humanistic Judaism, based in Farming
Hill, Mich.," Lustig said. The SHJ is an organization that
offers a "non-theistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life."
"I've written 15 or 16 songs for the movement. In fact, I just
finished one the other day," Lustig noted.
She said after becoming interested in Yiddish, with their permission,
she composed music based on the work of Yiddish poets Abraham Futzkever
and Katya Molodovsky.
"It just seemed to be an important part of Jewishness,"
Lustig said. "I've always enjoyed modal music and, after my
cantorial studies, I learned the Jewish modes. I wrote some of my
music in those modes – which are really interesting to hear."
In music, a mode is an ordered series of musical intervals, which,
along with the key, define the pitches.
Lustig, who said she has been composing since she was 16, said she
has always been into music; she started playing on the family piano
at four, although, she said, not well.
"I'm no prodigy," she said.
"But I've just always been into in it [music]."
Her most recent work, five songs for mezzo-soprano and piano, are
based on poems by Cornelia C. Hornosty and are being performed at
the Sonic Boom Festival this weekend. Lustig said athough she will
not be participating in the show, seeing her work performed keeps
her going.
"To me, that's part of the creative process," Lustig said.
"When I finish composing something, it really doesn't exist
until someone has sung or played it."
She says sometimes it is discouraging as a composer, because if
you're not famous, you get little recognition. But hearing it played
by someone else makes it all worthwhile.
"It's like something that was only in my head is out there
now in the real world," Lustig said. "It's a miracle."
Vocalist Janice Hill of the group Anima and pianist Karen Lee-Morlang
are performing three of a set of five songs written by Lustig –
what she called a song cycle. The performance has a 12-minute limit,
so Lustig said she chose which ones would be performed.
Lustig has a bachelor's degree in music and a master's in composition
from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), as well
as a doctorate in composition from the University of Wisconsin.
The performance is part of Pro Musica's Sonic Boom Festival, taking
place at the Western Front Theatre, March 16-19. The show featuring
Lustig's work takes place Friday, March 17, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets
are $15; $10 for seniors.
Veronika Stewart is a student intern at the Independent.
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