Today we’d like to introduce you to Veronika Krausas
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started playing piano at 7 and by my teens I was composing little piano pieces. Finally in my 20’s I realized music was my passion and calling and went to study composition at the University of Toronto, McGill in Montreal and finally doing a doctorate at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Somehow LA completely got under my skin. I love its beauty, it’s energy, the unlimited creative source of people and their wonderful passions. I find it completely inspiring. Los Angeles is a wonderful muse. Today I compose – for productions with my wonderful friends and colleagues at SPRUNG, for fabulous orchestras like the Los Angeles Philharmonic, for the amazing musicians and musical groups that abound in LA and beyond. I also teach at the Thornton School in the composition department and adore my students and colleagues. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be living, working, creating and living.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
“Smooth Road” … hmmm what a unicorn that is! There are always struggles, music not coming out like you had wanted, performances that maybe don’t go as planned, people jamming out at the last minute for shows, and the list goes on. In each case those events have created a new path, a new piece, a new approach, a new person and always something better. As an optimist I try to remind myself that everything is for a positive reason. BUT, to be honest there are times when things just flow smoothly and you ARE on the right path, surrounded by unicorns!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I love storytelling and I think that my music is storytelling – most of the time quite abstract stories. I take inspiration from art, literature, weird noises, musicians, other music, food, and nature. Most of my inspirations come out as musical compositions, but sometimes I love to draw musical/animal postcards, make crazy books about graffiti or errata, make a bell wheel sculpture to honor the passing of a friend, write little stories for my friends’ children, take photos, I also love to laugh but my music is typically so very serious. My last opera ‘Ghost Opera’ that I did with the Old Trout Puppet Workshop, Calgary Opera and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity was a dramma giocoso – a serious story about the murder of a woman by her nephew (who was after her money) but then she haunted him and the house and drove everyone to suicide or madness until a philosopher buys the house and establishes a relationship with her, giving her a proper burial and sending her across the river Styx with Charon to peace. But the was a funny side to it all – the family that gets haunted has a Pomeranian dog named Barrington who she poltergeists and there are many moments of humor! If was one of the first funny things I had written and was a very successful opera. For me those moments of humor when the audience laughed where so amazing.
How do you define success?
Success is combining curiosity with creation and having an outlet. Getting paid to do that is also nice.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.veronikakrausas.com
- Instagram: veronikakrausas
- Facebook: veronika krausas
- Soundcloud: krausas
