Mirela Ivičević (HRV)

Unrestricted, energetic, explosive – Mirela Ivičević is one of the most enthralling composers of her generation.
Her works are performed at international festivals and interpreted by well-respected ensembles such as Klangforum Wien and Ensemble Nikel.
A number of her pieces were developed with the close collaboration of The Black Page Orchestra, a heterogeneous ensemble which she helped to establish in 2014. Ivičević was born in Split, Croatia in 1980. She studied composition with Željko Brkanović, Klaus-Peter Sattler and Beat Furrer.

Is it possible for the senses to produce resonances amongst themselves?
Is it possible to acoustically represent that which is remembered and experienced and:
how much abstraction does such a translation need and how much can it tolerate if it is to lead us intothe realm of the imagination?
The composer Mirela Ivičević transforms sensual and emotional, as well as political and social impressions into haunting and suggestive works.
She has no qualms with the processing of personal experiences, on the contrary – her oeuvre and biography are closely intertwined.
She writes herself into her pieces, staking her place. Ivičević is not concerned with a simple translation of her experiences.
Her approach is much more emotional, sensual and immediate.
She extends her experiences into a sound so as to become a discovery, an invention.
At the same time, what is narrated always remains in limbo. In a critical examination of society, but also of her own emotional world, Ivičević enters into historical, intimate or semi-fictional realms. What preoccupies her are the micro- and macro-political questions. Many of her works revolve around self-empowerment she herself has experienced. They tell of relationships, of sexuality and pregnancy, but also of powerlessness, of war and destruction. They demand independence and freedom, a space free of ideologies and power dynamics.
This occurs not only on a conceptual but also on an acoustic level. Dominant orders, hegemonic relationships, are suspect to Ivičević, no matter in which context. It is a matter of rebelling against them, of going against borders, taboos and fixed meanings.
As a result, she is not a composer of shy notes. Her music roars, it rears up, it shrieks and falls away, it curses and moans.
Hyperactive structures and high densities run towards ecstatic outbursts, an acoustic inferno, a great stroke of liberation. Tense and anarchic, Ivičević’s compositions resemble rebellious acts.

Essay by Shilla Strelka for EvS Musikstiftung
Photo: Rui Camilo | EvS