Alexandra Stréliski Releases New Album “Néo-Romance”
Platinum-selling composer and pianist Alexandra Stréliski has released her latest album Neo-Romance (XXIM Records / Sony Music Masterworks), the follow up to her Juno Award-winning INSCAPE. A trailblazing woman in the modern classical world, Stréliski is known for her minimalist and emotionally striking music. A favorite of the late director Jean-Marc Vallée, her music has been at the heart of Vallee’s Sharp Objects (HBO), Big Little Lies (HBO), and Dallas Buyers Club.
Listen to Neo-Romance here.
Composed and recorded in Europe, Neo-Romance is inspired by the idea of Romanticism in the modern day. “In the face of darkness, how do you remain in that imaginary world?” asks Alexandra, who was raised playing Chopin.
Stréliski wrote Neo-Romance in Rotterdam, where she explored her family’s past, and learned her ancestors were artists. “My dad is French, my family have Polish Jewish origins, and I somehow ended up exactly where they used to live. I always felt I was the only musician in my immediate family—that I was just this weirdo artist—but it turns out my ancestors were all directors, violinists, and theater managers; many of the women were actresses. I didn’t know the story, so it opened these doors of reflection and identity. Of asking: ‘Where do I come from? Does music follow you through generations? What does this mean in my life?’”
Each piece on Neo-Romance is a self-contained little world. “They all tell their stories.” The music comes from “a deep, personal space,” says Stréliski. “It’s about imagining things, telling stories, and losing yourself while listening.” From the soft, gentle “Rêverie d’été” and the calm, haunting sweep of “Borders,” to the slow, unfurling of “Petite Valse D’Amour,” the thoughtful and uplifting album closer.
It all comes back to that central idea, to dare to keep dreaming, no matter what life throws at us. “I want people to remember the importance of the immensity of our emotional spectrum. and the universality of it, as opposed to being polarized. We all go through the same, shared traumas—life, death, breakups—so how can we remain hopeful and dreamers of our own, wonderful existence? We can get lost and live in our emotions, pure as they are – it’s all within us, and I see hope in that.”
Stréliski will be touring worldwide and premiering Neo-Classical in the US on both coasts: May 25 at the Masonic Lodge in Los Angeles and May 27 at National Sawdust in Brooklyn. Tickets are on sale now, and additional tour dates are below.
About Alexandra Stréliski
Alexandra Stréliski has over 300 million streams worldwide, and her album INSCAPE has sold 160,000 albums in Canada, where it is certified double platinum, in addition to winning five Félix and a JUNO award (Instrumental Album of the Year). One of three best-sellers of 2019 and 2020 in Quebec, it also earned Album of the Year at the Independent Music Awards, and it was nominated on the 2019 Polaris Music Prize Long List and the album climbed the classical music charts in more than 20 countries worldwide. Stréliski’s music is featured in the HBO series Sharp Objects and Big Little Lies, the Hugo Boss fashion show during New York Fashion Week, Dallas Buyers Club, Demolition, and during the 2014 Oscars.