Classically-Trained, World-Focused Pianist Mina Gajić Is Dissolving Musical Barriers

For Yugoslavia-born pianist Mina Gajić, musical genres are mere suggestions in light of the convergence of different cultures and musical influences that inform her musical style. While trained as a classical concert pianist, she has taken inspiration from acoustic-electric crossover world music, tango fusion, Balkan folk songs, and rock music. From her percussive renditions of the piano works of 20th-century avant-garde composer John Cage to her fusion of grand piano sounds with Zachary Carrettin’s unique electro-acoustic violin sound on the album CONFLUENCE, Mina Gajić’s approach to music has consistently challenged established ideas about what constitutes classical music.

“I come from the classical tradition, and I sometimes wonder if audiences are attending with the hope of personal growth or if some people are there just to be there, to be informed, to have more to critique and discuss at the next dinner party,” she ponders. “Openness to art, to sound, to movement, is crucial to the value of art and music and dance, and my hope and belief is that, as classical audiences merge with non-classical audiences, sharing common ground, the power of music will once again go deep to a place that may not always be comfortable.”

Mina’s openness to different musical traditions begins with her earliest experiences singing Balkan folk music while growing up in Yugoslavia. Her musical journey has since led her to music degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Rice University Shepherd School of Music, a doctoral degree in Musical Arts from the University of Colorado Boulder, and several collaborations with international artists in the field of music and dance. Her collaboration with the aerial dance troupe BANDALOOP taught her about the ways that live music can be enhanced by physical performers through heightened physical awareness. Most recently, she has learned from the rich musical tradition of Iceland through her collaborations with Icelandic film/symphonic composer and Sigur Rós collaborator Maria Huld Markan Sigfusdottir and Pall Ragnar Palsson, former member of the alternative rock band Maus. An album featuring her work with these Icelandic musicians is set to release in October 2024.

Mina has credited this continual influx of different musical influences with changing her views on and relationship to music throughout her career. “I’ve never identified as anything other than a musician. However, the definition has expanded as I produce and direct music videos, lead a music festival, and collaborate on diverse recording projects,” she said. “The work changes and transforms the musician.”

The transformative nature of music is evident in the variety of styles seen throughout her discography. In the album BOUNDLESS, she is at her most traditional, playing music from the 1800s on period-accurate instruments. She carries this approach into her work on the album Boulder Bach Festival, playing a Bach classic on a 1700s harpsichord. On Bach UnCaged, Mina Gajić opts for an almost opposite approach, filtering Bach’s work through Indonesian influences and combining it with the electronic effects used by Zachary Carretin on violin. On Sonic Alchemy, she mixes old and new, using instruments to examine the concepts of time, space, and contemplation.

As the barriers between musical styles dissolve, Mina predicts more openness to change and new ideas from classical music audiences steeped in tradition. She says, “Instead of always wanting to hear the ‘masterpieces,’ more classical audiences will seek out the unknown, as they do when reading a book or visiting an art gallery. I think the classical landscape is changing fast, and most everyone is, in fact, embracing and contributing to the necessary change so that the music can live and thrive and change as well.”