Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I got my friend Olga in here, and Olga, first of all,
your last name. I wanted toask you this on the air because for
anybody that is going to about tohear your voice, they're going to be
like, she does not sound likeshe's from here. So how do you
say your name like like your nativename? Like not me butchering it?

(00:23):
First of all, Emmer, thankyou very much for having me here today.
Absolutely, it's such a big honorand pleasure. So how I pronounce
my name in my native language?Do you mean that? Yeah? Oliga?
Oliga? Yeah, oh you Prince, It's so perfect, Oliga.
Yeah, I love it. Okay. So you're here to talk about the

(00:43):
Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival. Yes,I'm here for that purpose, okay.
And the Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival issomething happening here in the first week plus
a little bit of August, sowe're very close to that, and you're
in charge of this. Before Italk too much about the event itself,
music is certainly an important conduit Ithink for communities around the world. It's

(01:07):
something that we're very passionate. Wespent a lot of time talking about music
and also trying to pick the rightmusic to put into our show. And
I just kind of I'm curious asto your history with music and kind of
how you made your way to Omahain the Nebraska area. Is that a
story that you're comfortable telling us here. Oh, of course, I'm comfortable

(01:29):
to tell any stories from my life. It can be a little bit long
story, but I tried to compressthis little bit. So music is definitely
all my life. I started toplay violin when I was six. It
was very rigorous, education tough.So it's like violin violin Soviet Union style,
you know. Oh yeah, practicingevery day two three hours per day

(01:51):
since I was six. Boy,Mom pushed me a lot, and like
our education lasts so long. It'slike four years of bachelor degree, five
years of master's degree, and thenI did my PhD for three years,
oh my gosh. And then Istarted to travel the world as a classical
musician and I performed in my owntrio, classical trio for ten years,

(02:14):
and then I start toured as asoloist all over the world. And I
came to Omaha first time in twothousand and six perform in order to perform
newly opened holand performing Arts Center.So, okay, from the recital there,
amazing, And then ten years laterI was invited as a visiting professor

(02:34):
to the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where I'm still teach until now at
the School of Music. I'm veryproud of that. So that's my little
story. Amazing. That is awesome. Okay. So Olga is sitting here
with us, and you have allthis classical music training and all the things
that go into creating a musical fest, and this looks like just an incredible

(02:59):
event of all different kinds of peopleacross the age spectrum and also all different
kinds of entertainment for people who mightwant to come here for a very affordable
price. So we'll go step bystep here, what exactly is the Nebraska
Crossroads Music Festival. I like youtold very affordable place. I said price.
I would say it's even more thanaffordable. It's just free. Right,

(03:21):
that's easy to say that show.So everyone is welcome at any of
our fifteen events in Omaha and Lincoln. These events happen in Omaha and Lincoln,
and we produce concerts in many genres, from hip hop, jazz to
classical concerts and folk fusion, soall kinds of genres and our future I

(03:47):
would say, no matter what genreof music we produce and present, I
would say, it will be alot of fun. It's a keyword,
yeah, fun and music is fun. I see a couple of things that
pop out are these interactive Kids concerts, and then you have a jam session

(04:08):
as well. And these are overmultiple days so anytime, like you might
not be free for one of them, but you could be very free for
maybe another one. And people cancome in all of these events. Definitely,
all events are free. This isour new feature this year. We
decided to go totally free to takeaway the last boundaries what can keep people

(04:29):
away from the concerts. So yesplease Interactive Kids Concerts. We partnership with
libraries Omaha and Lincoln Libraries and ourbiggest showcase concerts will happen in Omaha the
Genuinely Himol at the Riverfront Park onAugust ninth. It's a three hours long

(04:49):
concert with fun games, trivia games, interviews, some interesting introductions, and
we have four acts with different typeof music Hip Hop, Indigenous collective,
Armenian folk rock band Just Do,and Cuban Band. So it be all

(05:12):
variety. If you suddenly do notlike one act, wait just a little
bit and it will be the nextone. So a lot of fun and
it's very family friendly. Take yourblanket, favorite drink launcher, and come
anytime you can. If you cannotcome orate at seven, you can come
later at eight or even eight thirty, and you still will catch about like

(05:34):
one hour and a half of wonderfulmusic. And we repeat exact the same
concert next day in Lincoln in AntelopePark, the same setting. Everyone as
welcome, kids friendly. We willhave some kids painting facing, We will
have vendors with some food food trucks, so it will be a lot of

(05:55):
fun for everyone, for all families. I love this. We're speaking with
Aga, she is from the AcrossRoads Music Festival, and you did a
great job of explaining kind of whatthose showcase concerts look like on Friday the
ninth and Saturday the tenth, Omaha, the ninth link in the tenth.
Music is a way that we kindof bridge gaps in our societies. You

(06:15):
talk about you know, Russia orthe Soviet Union, you know, and
the training that you had, andhow different your growing up was then I'm
sure our growing up was here inthe Midwest of the United States of America,
yet here we are able to talkabout just what music is able to
do for people. I'm sure that'sa big part of what you guys are
doing to try to inspire people,not just within the entertainment aspect of music,

(06:38):
but also the participation aspect of music. Oh, definitely. We truly
believe me as the executive director andEric Higgins, who is the founder and
artistic director of the festival, Wetruly believe that music can build bridges better
than anything else. We don't needto understand even words to become closer to

(06:59):
it, which which is absolutely greatAnd another aspect of the festival that we
tried to create projects at the festival. Since we have world class musicians coming
right here in Nebraska from all overthe world, like from all continents,
Grammy Awards and other great musicians theycome here, we kind of mix them.

(07:24):
It's not a good word for peoplethat we mix musicians with local ones
and we create product which then goesglobally. So for example, the piece
of music which was created last yearat the festival now goes globally and will
be performed at the Kuma festival inFinland just in a couple of days on

(07:45):
twenty seventh of July. Wow.Yes, and we promote Nebraska all over
the world. So we really wantthat Nebraska will become famous not just with
Warren Buffett, not with Omaha Stikes, but also with great world class and
we have this mission and we alreadyin place. Yeah. I love.
Okay, so we're speaking with Olgahere. Can you stick around for another

(08:07):
segment? I got a few morequestions I want to ask you right,
will be hap to. Okay,It's three forty five more with Olga from
the Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival. Upnext, Emory Songer with You News Radio
eleven ten KFAB. Em Reesung onNews Radio eleven ten KFAB. The festival
in and of itself in kind ofhow music can kind of bridge our communities

(08:28):
in ways that nothing else really canin a lot of ways, but I
wanted to kind of touch back uponyou know, your background, specifically in
how your experience with music can likehow that has kind of transition. Is
You've told me you've been a partof kind of this this project since it

(08:48):
began, so from your perspective inthe background that you had you know when
you were a child in Russia towhere you are now, What specifically about
your experience growing up and learning howto play at such a young age has
gotten you to a point where thisis the kind of thing that you think
can really make a difference in ourcommunities for music. It was such a

(09:09):
great question. Thank you for askingit. Yeah, it was very interesting
transition for me personally to move fromMoscow, the capital of Russia, where
I used to live more than thirtyyears, to in the middle of the
United States, Omaha, And itwas wonderful transition for me. I moved

(09:30):
here eight years ago, and culturallyit was very interesting experience, very different
definitely, and people are so warmand kind here, which I really appreciate.
And I felt almost immediately like athome here in Nebraska, in Omaha,
and we do not have traffic here. It was so wonderful. It's

(09:52):
like this definitely made my life moreluxury style. I stopped to my time
for traveling. But speaking about music, I was not only the classical musician
all my life. I was verycurious about different genres. So I learned

(10:13):
how to play jazz, blues,little bit, some improvisational stuff. I
made several recording projects with rock bands, and I also I'm also DJ with
violin, so I was very kindof well rounded, diverse and curious about
other genres and open to play anyof them. And you're going to connect

(10:35):
with so many different types of peoplebecause of that, exactly, exactly,
and I think it expanded really thelanguage of musical language you play. And
Eric Higgins, who is the founderof the festival, he also was trend
as a classical bass player, butthen he had a great experience with Silk

(10:56):
Croat Ensemble of You Your Mom.There musicians from all over the world from
all different backgrounds and instruments joined togetherand create some great experiences together for audience
and for themselves. And he decidedin twenty nineteen why I would not bring

(11:16):
this to Lincoln first. The festivalstarted in Lincoln in twenty nineteen and I
was very lucky to be invited asa violinist to that very first festival.
And Eric, who lives currently inDenmark and he used to live in Denmark
on he started this festival, andI now being the executive director, I

(11:37):
have no idea about huge respect andadoration to Eric that he could do this
he came to Lincoln probably four timesper year, and he could start this
festival. I do not understand howhe did, honestly, like now knowing
how huge is the work, buthe started it, and he brought musicians

(11:58):
from all over United States, thebest ones. He had very wide circle
of great musicians all over the worldbecause he lives in Europe. And he
also wanted to connect these great musicianswith local ones. And he, for
example, discovered our very own HassanKhalil, who is Yid, who was

(12:24):
a refugee and he's from Musidic community, and Eric discovered him as a musician.
And Hassan right now is a verysignificant figure in Lincoln music community.
He is a part of the boardof Leeds Center for example. Wow,
yes, so, and we willhave documentaries screening this festival about Hassan and

(12:50):
his band, and this documentary willhappen at Ross Theater on August sixth.
So please come and luk at thiswonderful documentary's screen. I love that.
Yeah, So there's this another additionto some of the stuff that you have
going on. I'm at the website. It's really easy to find Nebraska MusicFest
dot Org. It's really that easy, and you can just search Nebraska Crossroads

(13:13):
Music Festival on Google. I wantedbefore I run out of time here,
I wanted to ask you talk abouta piece of music that was actually a
put together here that somebody very inthe very near future is going to be
performing in Finland. How does thathappen? Is that just kind of the
connection of the musicians that happened tobe here and this piece of music just

(13:35):
kind of traveling with them, theykind of take it with them. Or
is this one of those things wherethis becomes such a popular piece of music
for people to perform in a veryquick way that all of a sudden in
Scandinavia they're they're performing the music.Such a great question. You're such a
great interviewer. Thank you so much. You ask wonderful questions. So this
piece was possible to create for composerwho is Valeri Tlstof from Switzerland with Armenian

(14:01):
roots, but he lives in Switzerlandand he was a friend of mine.
We invited him and his group,Authentic Light Orchestra, which will come this
year again. It's a folk fusionfolk rock band, and he was so
inspired of the musicians who was atthe festival that he created peace in twenty

(14:22):
minutes. Oh wow, yes,he was inspired. So and then this
piece was recorded later in the Europewith many musicians from all over the Europe
and world. And the Kuma Festivalin Finland is at the start point.
Because this piece is going to travelall around the Europe. This is going
to be awesome. Oga. I'msorry, I'm running out of time here

(14:43):
today, but one more time,can you tell us where we can find
more information about Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival. So please go to Nebraska MusicFest dot
org and you find all the informationtotally free, very fun. Please welcome,
come and bring your friends, familyand drinks. And you might see
Olga there. You might see methere. You might see a ton of
people there, and heck you mighthear a piece of music that might be

(15:07):
played in Europe in a couple ofmonths. Auga, Thank you so much
for coming in. Thank you forhaving me. It was such a pleasure.
The Raska Crossroads Music Festival. Lookit up. It's definitely going to
be an awesome time over a fewdays in Lincoln and Omaha. We'll be
back with the four o'clock hour momentarilyEmery Soger with you stick around News radio
eleven ten kfab