Assistant Professor of Composition and Pendulum New Music Director Annika Socolofsky is the most recent recipient of the prestigious . Specifically, the 31-year-old was awarded a 5,000 euro commission and an instrument/sculpture named Inner Voice Amplifier, designed by visual artist Nuni Weisz.听
鈥淚 was supposed to compete for the award in 2020, but the competition was postponed a year due to COVID,鈥澨齬ecalls Socolofsky. 鈥淚 had a fabulous experience in The Netherlands last fall, working with a number of contemporary European ensembles.鈥澨�
鈥淲hile I was there in September, I had a new work premiered by the听, I performed a feminist rager-lullaby of mine with the听 and I had another piece of mine performed by听.鈥澨�
She adds, 鈥淕audeamus brings in a new roster of guest ensembles every year and I will get to write for one of those guests in the coming years.鈥�
Composer + performer
A venturesome composer and avant-folk vocalist, Socolofsky re-imagines traditional children鈥檚 lullabies in a new light through her feminist rager lullabies for a new queer era. She challenges societal norms and traditional ways of thinking鈥攅specially those that promote restrictive gender roles.听
Among the three works that Socolofsky prepared for the international competition were 鈥淲ho am I to say?鈥澨齛nd 鈥淭he Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: Silience.鈥澨鼳ccording to Socolofsky, the text of the former is derived from an English nursery rhyme that encourages young girls to fantasize about who their future husbands may be. Socolofsky challenges the idea that worth is based upon a future husband, which ingrains heteronormativity within our culture.听
鈥淭he Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: Silience鈥濃�攃ommissioned by Gaudeamus for the Z枚llner-Roche Duo for Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2021鈥攊s especially close to Socolofsky鈥檚 heart, composed just after the tragic mass shooting in Boulder last spring and serving as a means for grieving and processing loss.听
鈥淎s a composer, there is only one thing that I can do better than anyone else on the planet, and that鈥檚 to be fully me,鈥澨齭ays Socolofsky. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my job as a composer to be genuinely and transparently myself in my music and that means embracing my love of other types of music, art and so on. To deny that would be to deny a part of myself.鈥澨�
Educator
As an educator, Socolofsky is a strong proponent of the expansion of knowledge, simultaneously advocating for un-becoming鈥攖hat is, unlearning societal expectations and conditioning to rediscover who we are and who we can become.听
鈥淢y job is to help students find themselves and communicate themselves through their music by supporting them in composing the most powerful and intentional music they can,鈥澨齭ays Socolofsky. 鈥淢y goal is to provide a space that recognizes and encompasses the loves and musicianship of each individual student.鈥澨�
Socolofsky emphasizes the importance of exposing students to various types of music and genres outside of the contemporary classical music sphere. Indeed, the College of Music鈥檚 composition faculty recently hosted Vietnamese American composer Viet Cuong and Castle of Our Skins Founder Ashleigh Gordon while working to rebrand the college鈥檚 new music series (Pendulum) to be more inclusive of genre, aesthetic and style.
For Socolofsky, overhauling syllabi and class structure to 鈥渕ake my classroom as inclusive as possible鈥澨齣s also a top priority. 鈥淭his includes using compositional examples written by women, trans, gender non-conforming, two spirit, BIPOC, non-European composers 鈥� and the many intersections of those identities,鈥澨齭he says. 鈥淚t also means reaching outside of the classical genre entirely for musical study and compositional examples relevant to course material.鈥�
Photo听by Co Broerse:听Annika Socolofsky performs听鈥�Don鈥檛 say a word鈥澨�with the New European Ensemble at Gaudeamus Muziekweek in Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2021.
