First generation Russian-American pianist, singer, composer, improviser, and former Roulette Resident Artist Sonya Belaya presents the world premiere of her new work, Yazik.
Yazik (/yee’zik/, language and tongue in Russian; pity and regret in Turkish) is an interdisciplinary work exploring fractured language, migration, and the longing for home. At its center is an Immigrant Mother who passed away unnoticed in a foreign land, her silence resonating as both wound and summons. Represented by the Mother and the Language characters, the work examines the strained relationship, the intimacy and tension between one’s native tongue and the alienation of American English imposed upon her. Yazik mends through tracing the journey of life in two directions at once: memory flowing backward in acts of disentangling, and presence moving forward in reweaving, converging for healing to take place.
Blending physical theatre, electroacoustic music, ritual, and sculptural installation, Yazik creates a liminal terrain, where audiences are invited to bear witness to the Mother’s fractured language as it drifts and anchors, creating a ritual of communal repair.
In honor of Katerina Belaya.
Created by
Sonya Belaya
Staged and Directed by
Yuchang Xiao
Co-Produced by
Sonya Belaya, Yuchang Xiao
Characters
The Mother Nandi Rose
The Language Sonya Belaya
Art Direction Laura Sofía Pérez
Projection Mapping Jiangnan Hou
Costume Design Yuchang Xiao
Lighting Design Masha Tsimring
Movement Direction Nola Sporn Smith
Sound Design, Vocals, Gusli, Accordion Sonya Belaya
Vocals Nandi Rose
Electronics Zubin Hensler
Hardanger Fiddle Zosha Warpeha
Drums Stephen Boegehold
Poetry Valzhyna Mort and Sonya Belaya
A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing.
Sonya Belaya (she//they) is a first generation Russian-American pianist, vocalist, composer, and interdisciplinary artist. Based in New York, Belaya’s creative practice uses research of the immigrant experience, theatrical storytelling, improvisation, metaphysical imagery, rituals of domesticity, and Eastern European folkloric and Soviet bard protest musics to imagine futures of outernationalism.
Committed to multiplicity, she is a diverse music-maker invested in the development of intimate, meaningful collaborations. Conscious of her role within a broader community, Belaya centers her creative work on power-sharing through resource dissemination and storytelling.
Sonya’s awards include 2024 Civitella Ranieri Fellow, 2024 New Music USA Creator Fund, 2022 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, 2021 American Composers Forum Create Award, the 2020-2021 Resident Artist & 2021-2022 Commissioned Artist at Roulette Intermedium, made possible by the Jerome Foundation. Her work has been additionally supported by Foundation for the Contemporary Arts.
Sonya is a member of the co-led trio ALAARA ( Grey McMurray on guitar, Nicole Patrick on drums, Sonya Belaya piano/synths). The trio creates long form improvisations that prioritize patience, effortlessly traversing the space of jazz, experimental minimalism, and ambient music. In the lineage of loving friendship, the trio’s strength lies in the deepest listening, the vastness of their individual multiplicities, and an understanding that the present moment is the most precious one. Belaya has also collaborated with Amir ElSaffar, Half Waif, Babehoven, Tanner Porter, John Roberts, Lee Tesche of Algiers, poet Ama Birch, Wild Up, and New Music Detroit. They were also a part of the original Broadway pit as part of the Sufjan Stevens’ “Illinoise” dance musical.
