The Nutcracker and I | Alexandra Dariescu discusses digitising Tchaikovsky

In this video Hannah Nepilova talks to the pianist Alexandra Dariescu about her production of ‘The Nutcracker and I‘, a creation based on Tchaikovsky’s ballet, for solo ballerina, solo pianist and digital animation.

As Clara dances, a pixel-pointillist backdrop will be projected onto a transparent gauze screen along with various digital dance-partners whose movements sync with hers in real-time.

She and Yeast Culture director Nick Hillel decided against computer-generated animation, instead opting to have every frame hand-drawn on iPads.

Not only will The Nutcracker and I illuminate Dariescu’s synaesthetic musical mind, it will also chart her musical journey (the show starts with Clara dreaming of becoming a concert pianist). Dariescu was born to an ordinary non-musical Romanian family – she recalls her grandmother queuing for food and milk during the country’s final years of Communist rule. When she was seven, her mother saved up to buy her an upright piano. Just two years later Dariescu made her stage debut as a soloist in an orchestra.

At the age of 17, Dariescu won the Constantin Silvestri scholarship which led her to move to the UK to study at Pocklington School. In 2014, she was awarded the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) scholarship for her undergraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music. Dariescu made her UK debut at the Bridgewater Hall in 2006, where she performed Mozart Piano Concerto No. 15 with André de Ridder and the RNCM Chamber Orchestra live on BBC Radio 3. In 2008, Dariescu won the Young Concert Artist Trust competition. She is now well-known as a concert pianist, with a special focus on promoting the works of female composers.

This interview about The Nutcracker and I is part of a series of videos in which we interview artists who are doing interesting things during lockdown.