Pianist Alexandra Stréliski's Raw Emotion Comes Through In Film Music, New Album

Alexandra Streliski

French Canadian pianist Alexandra Stréliski is inspired by emotions, people, and the experiences she lived. “I cannot make a distinction between that and the way I write,” she said. This is why her work touched many emotions to those her listen to it, recently via Jean-Marc Vallée’s films Dallas Buyers Club (2013) and Demolition (2016), as well as the trailer of the acclaimed HBO series Big Little Lies (2017).

“The most positive surprise for me is to realize how the most profound emotions I have can relate to a really large public through music, different kind of people, ages, cultural backgrounds…I am amazed at how we are much more similar that we think as human beings. And that gives me hope,” Alexandra said.

New album, Inscape

In fall 2018, Alexandra released her sophomore album, Inscape, from Secret City Records. She persevered to release this album because she would have felt like she was missing out on a large part of her life if she didn’t.

“Music is where I find my place in the world. And Inscape is a very personal album to me. It is really about that transition period that I lived,” she said.

Described as both melancholy and light, the approach of neoclassicism is resolutely current in Inscape. Alexandra hopes that people will remember her music as touching their heart and letting them dream a little.

She is now mainly working to bring Inscape to the stage. She wants to build a visual, poetic show and present it to the music industry around the world. Though initially fearful of performing on stage, Alexandra now finds something therapeutic about the process.

“I think it’s beautiful to gather together and live a moment that is purely emotional, no artifice,” she said.

Cause And Effect

Despite all the success, Alexandra knows she needs to be kind to herself and make that part of her routine. She said she used to be very hard on herself, which eventually led to deep depression.

“Having suffered a burn-out and a depression, I am very sensitive to mental health issues. I think the way our society is shaped really lacks humanity and we need to realize that people are largely suffering from it,” she said.

Her most cherished accomplishments are shifting her life choices in the recent years and daring to focus on her musical career full-time. Alexandra wants to continue that in the years to come, with travel, playing live, exchanging with people, and maybe writing for a movie or TV series once in a while.

“Everything that I experience provides inspiration. The piano for me is a way to express my emotions so basically anything susceptible of creating one is an inspiration,” she said.

To learn more about Alexandra and her latest album, visit her website.