Anoesjcka DeLorenzo explores ‘musical subconscious’ in debut album

Trumpeter and composer Guy Barker MBE has teamed up with composer Anoesjcka DeLorenzo to release DeLorenzo’s eponymous debut album on Orchid Classics’ new Blue Cloud Music label (22 November). Featuring orchestrations of the melodies which have ‘come to’ the composer throughout her life, the album represents an exploration of DeLorenzo’s ‘musical subconscious’.

Born and raised in Cape Town, DeLorenzo began composing music instinctively at the age of five but, without formal lessons, she pursued a career in the fashion industry, moving to Europe at the age of 22. Composing remained a parallel creative and emotional outlet until DeLorenzo moved briefly to Los Angeles, where she was introduced to music technology by film composers Gianluca Cerchiello and Gigi Meroni.

Talking about her compulsive need to compose, DeLorenzo said: ‘I have always been hearing music that comes to me… I never used to think anything of it. I neither grew up with music nor was I surrounded by musicians to tap into what music creation means. I thought everyone heard music, until relatively recently when I realised I have quite a collection of compositions… I compose by feeling, not by rule, and when I do, time stands still.’

When DeLorenzo – now a student of philosophy and psychology – was introduced to composer, trumpeter and arranger Guy Barker, the duo began to work on orchestrations of the works DeLorenzo had sketched throughout her life. The two recorded one of DeLorenzo’s earliest works during the pandemic in an outdoor garden studio, before moving to Abbey Road Studios to record the full album with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

DeLorenzo said: ‘Hearing a song of such importance to me – as it had originated in my childhood – being played by such renowned musicians was beyond overwhelming. They [the musicians] shared my experience like someone holding my heart, its emotions and its vulnerability in their hands… In a way, this album is a cathartic reflection on episodes of the human condition.  I wonder why it took me so long to be proud of my art and put it out there, but I had to live first in order to be able to accurately reflect on experiences, since I can only now turn them into powerful storytelling pieces.’