Crista: Conducting is my zone. It’s the absolute gateway to a flow state for me. People ask me all the time what orchestral or choral conductors actually do. Conducting is a movement of energy within a confined yet infinite space. It’s shaping and shift shaping time and experiences that have unlimited possibility within the confines of an arch of predetermined beauty. It is the ultimate flow state.
If I need to make space to ‘get in the zone’ for another activity, however, deep breathing and low humming/vocalizing into any parts of my body that feel tension or hesitancy. Finding my heart center and reading the room are key before addressing a crowd.
In a parallel universe, what would your life be like? What would your art be like?
Crista: In a parallel universe I would be one of the musicologists helping to identify, document and index the Icaros of the Shipibo people in Peru. That was the direction my life was headed before I had children 10 years ago.
I would likely be arranging.
Icaros melodies into choral settings under the direction and discipline of shipibo elders and setting up ways for any monetary transaction of those songs to be received directly by descendants of the originators.
It is important that we are globally hyper aware of appropriation within the arts and its deficit to current and past indigenous culture.
After that, I would explore the folk melodies from my own southern Italian roots and probably be arranging those into some sort of experimental art. Maybe that’s more my future self than parallel.. but time isn’t linear.
I guess there is a potential that I could also be a mermaid.
Who is one of your earliest sources of inspiration?
Crista: Jane Goodall and Leonardo da Vinci.
Who is one of your newest found sources of inspiration?
Crista: Quannah ChasingHorse. Follow her if you don’t already! And my husband Bryce, an undying source of empathy, love, and superhuman capabilities. He is my warrior and I am his dreamer.
How do you conquer a creative block?
Crista: I don’t. I struggle with it and then feel shame. But I’m learning to be gentle and remind myself that it is never too late for an idea to emerge or re-emerge in its own organic way even when you feel like it has already been claimed. All ideas are fresh ideas if seen with the right eyes.
Love your regrets and use them to power or engage your next endeavor. Children are the art. They are the wild, boundless, and unpredictable canvas.
Pick your top 5 and list in priority.
Crista: 1. Laughter 2. Music/Expression 3. Nature 4. Fine things 5. Debauchery (and sex)
What is your favorite time of day? Why?
Crista: Sunrise. Why? It is a god gift for us to feel constantly renewed, reborn. Dawn is always the first dawn.
Do you dream a lot and does it influence your art?
Crista: Absolutely. I program entire concert series based on my dreams.
Do you have recurring dreams?
Crista: I do not. And while in the past I’ve been envious of friends who have recurring dreams, now I think I can be glad about it. They sound stressful.
Which do you believe to be true- Art imitates life, or life imitates art?
Crista: Oddly, neither. Art dictates choice. Experience dictates art.
What makes your pulse quicken? What makes you feel ALIVE?
Crista: Expressions of love. Thoughts of my children in danger. And the Boudica book series by Manda Scott.
Immediacy. Not shying away or burying any experiences. Living fully through all impulse, pleasure, pain, mistakes and joys.
If you could trade places with any person (alive or dead) who would it be?
Crista: Thats so hard. There’s so many. Tõnu Kaljuste. Billie Eilish. Or my grandmother. So that she could feel what it is to be wild and free in a life that all of our ancestors had once dreamed up.
My list is one of advice to artist-mothers. Not because I have it figured out, but because I know how many of us struggle with the balance. And maybe after 10 years in the game I have some words to offer. Being an artist and a mother in the capitalist world is a privileged position. Never forget that. Don’t lose yourself. Who you are is neither in your art nor In your children. Who you are is in your very essence of being and both disciplines of artist and morher benefit from you staying centered.
Love your regrets and use them to power or engage your next endeavor. Children are the art. They are the wild, boundless, and unpredictable canvas. View them as you would one of your most original creations, because that’s exactly what they are.
Don’t waste time comparing yourself to others. Absorb what others are doing. Breath in the envy, jealousy, pride or regrets you may feel and breath it out and move on to your next project.
Ideas are like souls. They are born, nurtured and come to fruition. It’s not for us to decide which ideas will choose us to find their full expression in this world or the next. Relax.. you have plenty of time
Who is your rock?
Crista: My boyfriend, Ryan. Who has lovingly given so many of the right words to see me through a chronic illness.
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