Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandra Keegan.
Hi Alexandra, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I came to the United States from Kiev, Ukraine on August 7th of 2002 with my ten y/o son, right after my graduation from the Ukrainian National Music Academy with DMA in orchestral conducting. I did not speak or understand English, we had $800, two suitcases and my violin with me. I also had a green card (that I won through Diversity Lottery) with SSN and legal right to work in United States.
People often ask me why I came to Los Angeles, CA. I had many reasons, but the main one was the advice my Dad gave me. He said: “Go to the place where you can survive in a cardboard box all-year round – with no winter or rain. Who knows when you’ll be able to find a job that pays enough to rent an apartment…” It is probably difficult for any US-born person to imagine the excitement of moving to the United States from Eastern Europe. It is very similar to the excitement of 5 year/old going to “Disneyland”. My Dad’s idea about living in a cardboard box cooled that excitement down quite a bit and made me re-evaluate the ideas of going to New York or Florida. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t get to live in a box because I knew that there is a box out there that I might end up in if I’m not being careful.
Upon arrival, I spent $650 out of my $800 on a studio in Torrance on Kent Ave, very unexpensive and relatively clean motel-like complex in the area with decent elementary school for my son. Needless to say, that my ten y/o learned all English “not-to-say” words within the first three days at new school and I was receiving calls from his schoolteachers complaining about that. Luckily, I did not understand a word they were saying to me and when my really nice neighbor lady translated me what the complaints were about, I said “Oh. Really…?”, but I thought “hmm… he definitely didn’t learn those word from me or in Ukrainian school…”.
On my third day in Los Angeles (Torrance) I started five day/week English classes at the Torrance Adult School. On the fourth day, I got my first job – playing violin at the Chinese restaurant in Palos Verdes, CA. The owner paid me $20/day and two meals for me and my son plus tips. It doesn’t sound like a lot but at that time, it kept me in my studio in Torrance and my son had very nice meals after school. After a week or two, I was getting invitations to play at the private events and my wallet fluffed up enough to afford $600 15 y/o Toyota Tercel. That day changed a lot – I could get jobs at other restaurants that paid me $50/night plus tips, and I also were able to save money to enroll in Perry Beauty College to become a hairdresser. Ten months later, I took an exam and obtained my California Cosmetology License. My first full-time employment was as a hairstylist at Fantastic Sam’s in Rolling Hills, CA.
At that point, I was able to understand English which turned out to be enough to become quite successful at doing hair. The beauty of my job at Fantastic Sam’s was that I did not have to talk. The clients always did an amazing job at that. Matter of fact, I think a lot of them liked me because I didn’t talk. Though, I had to learn phrases like “Oh, really?”, “No way…”, Hmm, interesting…”, “I did not know that…”, “oh, how come?..” that encouraged them to tell me their stories, talk about their work, families and other things that was important to them. One of my very observant co-workers once said: “you figured this business out girl, didn’t yah? It’s like being a bartender …” It was funny but also very true.
First 3-4 years in United States, my music career was downsized to holding a Principal Second Violin position at the Peninsula Symphony – a community orchestra led by a wonderful man and conductor Joseph Valenti. I have very warm and fun memories of working with this group. At that time, I still couldn’t work with orchestra as conductor because of my poor English.
In 2006 me and a former city councilman of El Cajon Todd Keegan, that I met through mutual friends, founded tuition-free music program for kids (East County Youth Symphony) here in San Diego. I was commuting once a week from Palos Verdes for Friday night rehearsals and occasional concerts. In four years, this organization grew big enough to become a full-time job. I learned to write grants, organize fundraisers, produce concerts, and I permanently moved to San Diego. Todd and I was a great team – my music skills combined with his social skills and political connections allowed our little non-profit to grow and succeed. Many of ECYS alumni graduated from schools like Eastman in New York, Cincinnati Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, UCLA, Stanford, Yale, Paris Conservatory, and other major music schools. Unfortunately, at the age of 60 Todd was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in September of 2012.
In 2008, after three previous attempts, I finally passed a TOEFL test and was qualified to teach in college. I gave it a fair try for few years by teaching Music Theory and Chamber Orchestra class at Cuyamaca College. However, I was an adjunct professor and one day just wasn’t invited back for the next semester with no obvious reason or explanation provided. I took it as a sign that Universe has something else in mind for me, and it turned out to be exactly that. I was offered a position of the Artistic Director of the opera company.
Since 2017 I was playing violin with Pacific Lyric Association – the non-profit organization founded in 2006 by the couple from Spain – Carlos Oliva and Terry Hughes-Oliva. Two amazing human beings and wonderful singers who have passion for opera. For years Carlos and Terry were producing operas and zarzuelas (Spanish comic operas). They develop cozy little community of artists and audiences and did their shows with full orchestra at the Center Theater (California Center for the Arts, Escondido).
In 2018, Carlos and Terry decided to step back and bring new people to manage Pacific Lyric Association. They invited Justin Gray as Executive Director, and I was offered a position of the Artistic Director and conductor. Under new management Pacific Lyric Association produced C. Gounod’s grand-opera “Romeo and Juliette” (2019) and the legendary operetta by J. Strauss Jr. “Die Fledermaus” (2021). In 2022 we are preparing a production of “Carmen” – the most popular opera in the world. It is a brilliant piece written by G. Bizet, and PLA will be staging it in a traditional manner with artistic narrations between scenes for those who do not speak fluent French.
Last few weeks many people ask me what I think about Russian-Ukrainian conflict. There is no one-sided answer to this question. The Russia and Ukraine were in trades, business, and collaboration for thousands of years. The difference between the cultures of Eastern Ukraine and Russia is not as prominent as between Eastern Ukraine and Western Ukraine. Only people who live in Ukraine know that. Majority of people in Eastern Ukraine do not speak Ukrainian – their native language is Russian, they belong to the Russian Orthodox Churches, they went to Russian schools where Ukrainian was an optional language, etc. For no good reason Ukrainian government lately announced it loud and clear that Ukraine is headed to NATO. It was irresponsible, arrogant, and non-realistic statement that triggered Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Ukraine would be much better off taking a neutral political position and serve as a buffer between Russia and Western Europe, just like Switzerland. Joining either side will always create a conflict. On other hand, Putin responded like a savage who is not intelligent enough to present and win his argument through diplomatic negotiation. He still believes that killing civilians including children and bringing his dictatorship to the democratic country will somehow do good for his country. Most likely not.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it was not a smooth road. It took a lot of learning, patience and tenaciousness to make it up to the position I’m in now from where I started in this country 20 years ago. The most challenging for me was to understand the American mentality. It is quite different from Slavic.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an orchestra conductor. My specialty and my passion is opera. This genre is the most complex and most beautiful of all. It combines academically trained voices with unlimited colours of symphony orchestra, with theater lights, costumes, set, and tells wonderful stories.
The complexity of opera attracted me long before I decided to become a conductor. During my early music schooling, I played violin and opera orchestra was my favorite. Opera production is a lot more difficult to conduct than an orchestra concert. Keep together ensemble of 5-6 soloists, 50 people chorus and 46 piece orchestra is not easy if you are not properly trained and know exactly how to bring everything in agreement. The rehearsal process for opera must be very specific. A conductor must know and understand all challenges of orchestra, singers, and ballet dancers to be able to help them to create a great experience for the audience. It is like managing giant event where everything and everyone must be in place in a right time, and conductor is single-handedly responsible for it.
I am sure that orchestra musicians who worked with me will tell you that it is easy to play with me conducting. It is also takes less rehearsals to prepare the program. Many of them might say that my rehearsals are not that great but during the performance everything comes together nicely. Very true – sometimes I stop actively leading the orchestra during rehearsals that players pay more attention to each other. In many cases, this trick produces much faster and much better result vs stop-and-lecture. I have a good few dozen of these shortcuts that musicians do not fully understand (and they don’t have to), but they work very well for achieving faster bonding into one solid ensemble and preparing music material in the most time-sufficient way.
My focus is often on planning the rehearsal process in the way it produces the best results. It is something that conducting schools do not teach, but I find it very important and especially helpful when working on projects with limited number of orchestra rehearsals.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
In my personal opinion San Diego is the best city to live in. It is one of those places where perfect climate combined with a lot of fun things to do, pretty active artistic community and lovely skyline. It is not oversized like New York or Moscow, but it is deeply urban and relaxed just enough to enjoy life at its best. My least favorite in San Diego is a lack of opera house.
It is said that a gorgeous city like San Diego never had enough interest in building a real opera house. The Civic Theater where SDO does its production is quite unsuitable for the acoustic performances – it is oversized, and it’s not properly equipped. A perfect city must have a real opera house.
Contact Info:
- Email: alex.pacificlyric@gmail.com
- Website: http://www.pacificlyricassociation.org/
