Aleksandra Vrebalov has written more than 90 works ranging from concert music to opera, dance and experimental and documentary film. Her work is characterised by the fusion of influences from different musical traditions of the countries in which she has lived or travelled, including Serbia, the USA and the Middle East. She has written music for Western instruments, as well as ethnic and historical instruments from the Balkans, Asia and Poland.
Her works have been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, English National Ballet, Serbian National Theatre, Belgrade Philharmonic, the Forbidden City Orchestra in Beijing, and the José Limón and Rambert dance companies. Vrebalov has extensively collaborated with the Kronos Quartet and has written 18 works for the group. A fellow of MacDowell Colony, Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, Djerassi, American Opera Project, The Hermitage and Tanglewood, Vrebalov is the recipient of the Harvard University Fromm Commission, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Fellowship, Barlow Endowment Commission and a MAP Fund grant. Vrebalov made music with young refugees from Syria and Iraq at the Flying Carpet Festival on the Turkish/Syrian border in 2018 and 2019.
There are more than 20 CD releases containing Vrebalov’s work, recorded for Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, Innova, Orange Music Mountain, New Amsterdam, Centaur Records and Vienna Modern Masters. Vrebalov is a full-time professor of composition at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Serbia.