Pianist and poet team up for 'Happy Chemicals' at FSU Festival of Creative Arts

With a legacy of composition supporting her past and future, pianist and composer Liliya Ugay forges forward at Florida State University’s 3rd annual Festival of the Creative Arts this month with a new collaborative piece that explores the intersection of poetry and music.

The audience is invited to sing along in a premiere with the University Symphony Orchestra and University Choirs. Poet David Kirby has written a new text, “Happy Chemicals,” which has been set to music by composer Ugay, and will be presented at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall on Saturday, Feb. 24.

Dedicated to music

At the age of 4, on the eve of the new year, Ugay asked her mother to teach her the piano. Being a musician herself and knowing that her daughter’s birthday was nearing, she told her to wait until she was 5. The anticipation led to eagerness and excitement, which eventually grew into a passion for making music that has followed Ugay into adulthood.

As a child living in Uzbekistan, studying music meant working within a classical music educational system Ugay describes as “inherited from the times of being one of the Soviet states.” The vigor expected from each student could be interpreted by many as grueling and stressful.

Students were expected to practice their instruments a minimum of 3-4 hours a day while equally focusing many hours on the study of music theory, literature, and other necessary skills. But Ugay admits to loving every minute of the 12 years she spent at a special music school.

“I thoroughly loved my school. I can’t remember ever being forced to practice or do anything music-related. I could practice piano up to seven hours a day as a fourth grader,” Ugay said. “Some people think that children can do so much music practicing only by being forced, which is not true at all.”

Ugay attributes her success to the environment created by inspiring teachers and filled with equally creative students, all dedicated to music.

Eventually, Ugay moved to the United States to continue her music performance and composition studies. She moved to Georgia to attend Columbus State University, earning a Bachelor of Music in Performance. Ugay pursued masters and doctoral degrees in composition from Yale’s prestigious School of Music.

In the summer of 2019, she found her way back to the South when she accepted a job at Florida State University, where she currently serves as an assistant professor of composition and director of Polymorphia, the University's new music ensemble. Ugay evolved as a pianist, composer, and educator through her academic journey. She has since collaborated with many symphonies, and her music has been played around the globe.

The education of expression

For professor, pianist, and composer Ugay, music is a medium of communication. Be it an angsty teenager in a basement or an experienced symphonic musician, Ugay describes the goal of creating music as transferring thoughts, moods, feelings and ideas.

“Music is more abstract than words,” Ugay said. “Thus, it is capable of a wider range of expressions that make [music] a deeper and more personal communication tool than language.”

It is the melody and rhythm that Ugay uses in her classroom to communicate. With communication as the foundation, Ugay is left with the delightful task of helping students discover ways of sharing their inner thoughts with the world in what Ugay calls a “sophisticated musical way.”

Her practices of listening and analyzing music help students learn what tools to use when and expand their understanding of music as an art form. Ugay encourages everyone to simply live life to discover what and how to express themselves through music.

Although it sounds simple, she believes musicians need to experience their emotions — happiness, sadness, curiosity, humor, and love — to tap into the technical aspects of their core music-making.

'Happy Chemicals' debuts

When Ugay recounts the reasons for falling in love with the piano, she talks of its “ability to come up with all kinds of fascinating textures, build contrapuntal melodic lines, rhythmic versatility, extensive range, acoustic resonance, and endless possibilities for harmonic exploration.”

At this point in her life, she is primarily a composer and cannot find several hours a day to practice piano. She instead focuses her energy on creating new symphonic pieces. Her most recent composition, "Happy Chemicals," will debut at the Sing with the Symphony event as part of this year’s Festival of the Creative Arts.

Ugay is fueled by the need for expressive purpose and by the evocative and profound poem by FSU's distinguished professor of creative writing, David Kirby. The poem, specially written for the collaboration, and the music revolve around communication that begins as chemicals that evolve into love that transforms into music.

Ugay’s collaborative efforts reverberate on stage, and she is grateful to the Florida State University’s Office of Research for gathering a collective of artists across many mediums to share interdisciplinary art-making efforts.

This seven-day event began in early February and features community conversations with artists like Public Influence – Eleanor Roosevelt, Dante, The Beatles, Arts & Health Symposium II, and a sneak peek into FSU’s Flying High Circus’s spring show. The event continues with Discover Tallahassee's Art & Nature, which explores the relationship between the outdoors and art, and a Multi-Medium Gala highlighting students' creativity in music, architecture, and digital design.

On the morning of Saturday, Feb. 24, at the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall, "Happy Chemicals," composed by Ugay and performed by the university symphony with audience participation, will reveal itself to the world.

If you go

What: Free concert, “Sing with the Symphony” - part of the 3rd annual Festival of the Creative Arts

When: 10:30-11:45 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 24 | Additional festival events happening now through Feb. 28

Where: Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | Additional festival events are scheduled at various venues on the FSU campus; visit research.fsu.edu

Contact: 850-644-9694 | iquinn@fsu.edu

Dr. Christy Rodriguez de Conte is the feature writer for the Council on Culture & Arts. COCA is the capital area’s umbrella agency for arts and culture (tallahasseearts.org).

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Pianist and poet find chemistry at FSU Festival of Creative Arts