Interview: Emily Boyajian of THE CEDAR COMMISSIONS NIGHT ONE at The Cedar Cultural Center

The Cedar Cultural Center presents the twelfth annual Cedar Commissions, on February 17th and 18th, 2023, featuring new works by Aram Kavoossi, Cydi Yang, Emily Boyajian, Fawzi, Sophia Deutsch, and Theo Langason.

Each night, three lead artists will debut their brand new works on The Cedar stage: Friday, February 17th features Aram Kavoossi, Fawzi, and Emily Boyajian, and Saturday, February 18th features Theo Langason, Sophia Deutsch, and Cydi Yang.

The Cedar Commissions is a flagship program for local emerging artists made possible with a grant from the Jerome Foundation. Since the program began in 2011, the Commissions have showcased new work by over 60 Minnesotan emerging composers and musicians, including Dessa, Aby Wolf, Adam Levy, Maria Isa, Joe Horton, Joey Van Phillips, Gao Hong, Dameun Strange, Vie Boheme, and many more.

We chat with pianist and composter Emily Boyajian [she/her] about this her music and this event.

Tell us about your music background.

I primarily write classical music, ranging from completely tonal to very dissonant. I have written solo piano music, songs for piano and voice, string quartets, woodwind quartets, and orchestral music. My foremost goal as a musician is to write emotionally powerful music that can fill the listener's heart with joy, sadness, or a combination of the two in some cases. I also try to write accessible music that can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of their background.

I have been passionate about music for as long as I can remember. I took piano and violin lessons as a child, and I started writing music in high school. I studied math and music at the University of Chicago, receiving a BA in 2014. I also studied music theory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, receiving an MA in 2018. I considered pursuing a PhD in music theory, but I decided that I did not want to be constrained by the "bubble" of academia and that I preferred composing music over writing papers about music.

I moved to Minneapolis after completing my MA, and since then I have focused on composing music to be performed in local concerts by Twin Cities musicians. For example, I wrote a clarinet quartet and a string quartet in 2019, which were performed in house concerts organized by my musical colleagues. I also participated in the Film Score Fest in 2021, writing a film score for a 5-minute film, which was performed live with a small chamber orchestra. I wrote a song cycle on poems by Robert Frost, which was performed at the Source Song Festival in 2019. Later that year, I wrote more songs for piano and voice, performing them with local singers at the Minneapolis SongSLAM in 2020 and 2022. Finally, I participated in the Aria Institute of the Really Spicy Opera Company, where I collaborated with librettists and wrote opera arias to the texts that they wrote. I received feedback on my music from the directors of the Aria Institute, which has been immensely helpful in my growth as a writer of vocal music and as a composer in general.

What inspired you to write this song cycle and put on this concert?

As a trans woman who started my transition a few years ago, I wanted to write about something that is personally relevant to me, and is also personally relevant to many of my friends and community members. Transition has been both an exciting, mind-opening, stressful, frightening, and sometimes disillusioning experience for me. My positive experiences with transition far outweigh the negative experiences, and I am incredibly grateful to have a supportive community in the Twin Cities. However, I intend my song cycle to be a personal reminder that I persevered and found strength to continue my transition, even in times when it was difficult to do so.

What do you hope audience members take away from this concert?

I expect there will be a significant number of transgender people in the audience, and I want them to receive the message that they are valid even if they do not "pass", even if they are not always self-confident, and even if they do not fulfill other people's expectations of how a transgender person should be. Finally, I want to non-transgender audience members to receive the message that trans people are neither monsters nor heroes, that we are simply people trying to enjoy life in a complicated world.

What are your favorite local spots?

I really like going to Darbar Indian Grill and Galactic Pizza in Uptown! I also like LUSH and Black Hart for gay bars, and I like taking walks around Lake of the Isles and Bde Maka Ska.

Thank you Emily for your time.

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