Ms. Valitova’s portfolio includes chamber, symphonic, and piano music. At the present time her creativity is focused mainly on original piano compositions and their performance. She continues to develop the piano traditions of Russian, French, and other schools. The performing music style, touch, and sound of the outstanding pianists of the past and present are the most important sources for her inspiration and study.
There is a mellow touch, filigree sound, and elegant rubato that play tremendous roles in her music. In search of a new piano music style, she draws from the ancient roots of the piano art that originated from the Eastern instrumental performing arts of raga and maqam. The Indonesian art of the gamelan also influenced the composer’s choices of specific musical means of expression. In her music, she creates a clear, rounded melodic line, drawing upon the arabesque and polyphony as methods of development.
The composer’s music sources
One of the most important capacities of the composer is her ability to internalize a variety of musical cultures. Contemporary music artist Lilia Valitova draws upon different genres and music styles of Europe such as Gregorian monody, choral, madrigal, missa, the polyphonic music of the Renaissance, the 17th through the 21th centuries, and traditional and folk music, as well as the music of Asia, invariably maintaining her own musical identity.
The composer draws from multiple sources of vocal and instrumental music for ancient and traditional instruments, such as the Chinese tsin, the Japanese koto and samisen, the Indonesian gamelan, the Indian sitar and bina, the Persian tar and setar, the Turkish saz and kemancha, the Afghani rubab, the Arabic al’ud, the Azerbaijanian tar, the Bashkirian and Tatar kurai, dumbra, and kil komoz, and the dumbra and kil komoz from Kazakhstan.
In her music she continues searching for new means of expression, always ready for new discoveries and interpretations.
Life
Lilia Valitova earned her Ph.D. at the Piotr Tchaikovski Conservatory in Moscow, from which she also earned graduate and undergraduate degrees. Her dissertation was on music theory. Ms. Valitova studied composition with Professor Albert Leman, harmony with Professor Stepan Grigoriev, and polyphony with Professor Vladimir Protopopov. After she received her doctorate, Ms. Valitova taught music theory at the Academy of Arts in Ufa, Russia.
At the age of thirteen, Ms. Valitova won first place in a regional music competition for youth. This accomplishment enabled her to be accepted at a Special Musical High School for gifted children. In order to enable the young Lilia to attend that school, her family had to move from Salavat to Ufa. Her father gave up his position as Director of Scientific Research to make possible for her to continue studying at a higher level.
Her compositions have been performed in Russia, the United States, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Estonia. Currently piano music artist Lilia Valitova lives in Northern California where she continues to compose and perform her music.
Product Description: As a musician, I am inspired by the depth and originality of Jewish music. It is nurturing and healing. Many of these melodies originated in Europe, and many others came from Middle East. These melodies were played and sung by the wandering People of the Book, and perhaps were carried by those ancient exiles who were forced to leave the land of Israel. The creators of a rich mystical, philosophical, legal, literary, and musical civilization were treated cruelly. It is beyond my comprehension how it was possible to create this vast sea of knowledge and wisdom while enduring severe oppression and persecution. My piano compositions draw upon Jewish folk and liturgical music. The resulting suites are part of my attempt to understand the Shoah. The photograph on the front cover was taken by Alter Kacyzne in 1929 in Warsaw, Poland. The photograph was entitled Little Boys with Big Ideas. Yeshiva Boys Studying Talmud on their Own . It was published in the West Coast Yiddish Daily Forverts in a photo essay named The Eternal Students . Alter Kacyzne was a well-known editor, publisher, writer, poet, playwright, and photographer in pre-World War II in Warsaw. After the start of the war, Nazi barbarism did not skip Alter Kacyzne. He was murdered in Tarnopol, Galicia, by Nazi collaborators during his attempt to escape from the invading German army. All his manuscripts, photo negatives, and prints in Warsaw were destroyed. The photograph in the front cover survived only because it was sent, along with some of his other photographs, to the Forverts before World War II. The three boys in this photograph were thirteen years old and would have been young adults at the start of World War II. Their fate is unknown. I dedicate the music in this release to all people who are persecuted because of who they are.
Musicatlas
