composing

Ljova’s Instagram miniatures

I’ve been using Instagram as my on-the-go sketchpad of sorts, making 1-minute (or shorter) loop-minded tunes — here are a few and I’ll add others as they avail themselves.

Pensive Waltz (tiny piano demo)

What’s another waltz among friends? This one very much indebted to a style of my father, composer Alexander Zhurbin — possibly the only moment of me playing piano on all of the internet! Enjoy!

Coming Clean on Creative Collaborations — Things I Didn’t Know

Ljova takes a candid look at the state of his collaborations in 2015.

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

for several uniquely varied weeks in April-May 2013, Ljova kept a diary at the request of the Journal of the American Viola Society. Read the article.

“What kind of music do you make?” — This is a question that composers and performers get asked all the time, and, if you’re anything like me, the ideal answer is a diversion. “Well — at our last show, everyone was given complimentary ice cream, and everyone lost five pounds just by listening!” That’ll pique some interest. It’s just as dishonest as saying that what I make is a mix of “classical, jazz and world music” — it’s none of those, yet borrows from all.

hola from Buenos Aires

Hi to all from Buenos Aires. I’m here for a week on a fairly relaxed assignment, pushing paper and making minor corrections, as I’ve completed all of the prep work back in New York. ..