Aleksandr Tsiboulski

Aleksandr Tsiboulski

Postgraduate Award in Visual and Performing Arts sponsored by Anthony Joseph Pratt

Media Profile

“[Music] has always played a key part in my learning. When the limits of my musical understanding were stretched by something new, the perception of the world around me shifted and expanded. This is as true of classical music, as it is of rock or folk, all of which were voluntarily and happily a part of my daily listening from the youngest age.”

Mr. Aleksandr Tsiboulski has won a Fulbright Postgraduate Award in Visual and Performing Arts sponsored by Anthony Joseph Pratt. Established in 1996 by Richard Pratt, the Fulbright Postgraduate award in Visual and Performing Arts is one of few Fulbright awards in the world specifically identified for visual and performing artists.

Aleksandr is a First Class Honours Graduate of Music from the Canberra School of Music, at the Australian National University and is currently enrolled in a PhD at Elder School of Music, University of Adelaide. Aleksandr is a lecturer in guitar at the Victorian College of the Arts. Aleksandr will conduct research at the Manhattan School of Music under the guidance of David Leisner and David Strobin. At the school, he will study aspects of classical guitar technique, critically absorbing Leisner and Strobin’s innovative theories and practical applications for guitar performance.

Provoked by a debilitating injury that threatened his career, David Leisner undertook intense study of the human anatomy and the way it works when a person plays the guitar. As a performer who is noted for his emotional connection to his music as well as his technique, Aleksandr hopes to dramatically improve the level of his performance, which he will then pass on to his students in Australia.

Aleksandr will address several aspects of music under the guidance of Leisner and Starobin, specifically the scientific aspects of music such as the application of the human body to producing complex micro-movements on the classical guitar.

Alongside improving his classical guitar performance, Aleksandr will be continuing research into the works of Manuel M. Ponce (1886-1948), one of Mexico’s great composers. Ponce composed many works for the guitar, including the four sonatas that Aleksandr will record for the Italian label “Frame” later in 2005. Over time, editorial aspects of Ponce’s works have become layered, obscured and corrupted and sorely require research and re-evaluation in order to produce a new and adequate playing edition.

Aleksandr notes that “music has shifted away from the cultural core of western society, particularly in Australia.” Upon completion of his study aided by the Fulbright Scholarship, Aleksandr hopes to achieve his goal of reintroducing music into Australians’ lives, from early and intermediate education to performance.