Composer Alexandra Streliski on her Juno-nominated album and creating cinematic music for everyday life

Hearing her music being played live at the Oscars came as a surprise for the Montreal musician and composer Alexandra Streliski. 

"I remember it just being this surreal moment to see Matthew McConaughey and my music in the background," she tells Tom Power on Q. 

The late Quebecois director Jean-Marc Vallee had asked her to contribute to the soundtrack for Dallas Buyers Club, putting her track prelude at a key emotional moment at the end. A song that was then played at the ceremony, reimagined for flute and lute.

"I was hearing flutes and I was watching TV wanting the movie to do good. And I was like, wait a minute, there's no flute on my track. And then I started to get a lot of emails from people who recognized the song. And it was a beautiful moment." 

Mostly a composer for TV advertisements up to this point, Streliski went on to work alongside Vallee on Demolition and his HBO show Sharp Objects. Since then, Streliski's music has received plenty of recognition. Her new album Neo-Romance, is nominated for the album of the year and instrumental album of the year at the 53rd annual Juno Awards. 

"The fact that instrumental music crosses those barriers is lovely," says Streliski about the wider recognition of her work. The musician's success in film was the motivation she needed to pursue music full time and leave behind commercial composing for good. 

Before her jump to composing film, a lifelong dream, Streliski was experiencing burn out and was not able to utilize her artistic side. "I would sit in front of my computer and nothing would come out" she says. "I was not able to express my voice, I was not on my path."  

The artist was warmed to see that her instrumental album is being recognized but not totally surprised, "We just realized people listen a lot to this type of music," says Streliski. "And [music] streaming is made as such, that, what's getting big numbers is the stuff that accompanies people in their everyday life…it's music you can listen to when you're studying, but also in big moments of your life." 

Streliski imagines her music accompanies listeners in a way mainstream music cannot. "I get so many people write to me with such human, deep, beautiful stories," says Streliski. "Like [someone wrote] my son was born to your music yesterday." Her music  "is very emotional," says Streliski, "and tiring" to make, but despite this, she is excited to take it on and, "ready to do it." 

The full interview with Alexandra Streliski is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Alexandra Streliski produced by Vanessa Greco