January 2014 update

  Dear Friends, Happy New Year! My apologies for not writing sooner - the...

a long overdue Ljova and the Kontraband post-tour update

Several months ago, my ensemble Ljova and the Kontraband ran a Kickstarter campaign to...

Reverse genrectomy

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a post suggesting that genre labels...

Joy & Madness: Three Weeks in the Life of Lev 'Ljova' Zhurbin (a diary for the Journal of the American Viola Society)

Earlier this spring, I was asked by the Journal of the American Viola Society...

midsummer update

Dear Friends, First off, an invite to a singular show you don't want to...

What we're doing to the "Rite of Spring"

What is this thing called Rite? Do you know your Rites? Rite on, spring...

Ljova and the Kontraband are going to WOMEX

Ljova and the Kontraband at Joe's Pub - photo by Pete Matthews / FeastofMusic.com...

Interview about Lullaby and Memory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJsd9j9pChs Ljova as interviewed by Jeffrey James, originally published on InternationalComposers.com in 2013. Republished...

Quitting Facebook - one month later

  Ljova quitting Facebook If you ever try to quit Facebook, you'll head to...

The Gift of Music -- a case for physical media

When the original iPod was released, a friend and I would sit for hours...

in memoriam Ada Zhurbin

My dear beautiful grandmother died this morning in Israel, having turned 92 in December....

very young people's magic

In today's world, Facebook constantly asks me about what I like  -- do I...

Excuses, Excuses (Solutions, Solutions?)

When I was a student, going to shows (concerts, screenings, happenings) was easy -...

in praise of Bandcamp

  I really wanted to release this album on vinyl. Still do. But when...

Listen to my new album, "Melting River"

I am thrilled to release a new album -- my best album so far,...

Stop calling it Classical - get a Genrectomy

Previously on the Genrectomy Chronicles, read: "Kind Of" Dear Ljova: You're one who is...

Ljova.com redesigned

Dear Friends, Welcome to a revised version of Ljova.com! After years of dancing around...

Cycling Fiddles

Ljova biking on the Hudson River Greenway, 14F outside A few weeks ago, I...

Throw you for a loop?

Play this Soundcloud file for an excerpt of me trying to get something going...

Selling Out (second-guessing the audience)

Save Sibelius

Dear Avid, My name is Lev Zhurbin, and I am a New York-based composer...

Ljova's "Plume" in video for La Perla

Ljova's track "Plume", from Vjola: World on Four Strings, has just been used in...

"kind of"

The composer Nico Muhly has recently written a blog post broadly discussing genre, which...

how Z100 ruined my life

Age is just a number, and you’re only as old as you feel.  Though...