Episode 62: Loreta Kovacic, Alchemist Piano Theatre

KPFTOJ

Loreta Kovacic is known for her virtuoso performances from Mucky Duck to Carnegie Hall. She calls herself a “three for one special”: pianist, singer-songwriter and a storyteller. She started out as a classical pianist in her native country of Croatia. After immigrating to Texas and graduating with a Doctorate in Music from Rice University, she worked as a performer and a teacher, later adding the "Alchemist Piano Theatre" children's theatre. She has created 7 albums over the years and her "Brother Tadpole Classics" was nominated for a Grammy in 2011. This pandemic time found her recently creating her first album based on her original one-act tragic play, The House of Gilda Haas, set in 2019 in Houston Northside immigrant neighborhood, the story revisits Federico Garcia Lorca’s classic play La Casa de Bernarda Alba with a new, contemporary twist. She has a flair for transformative work and is sometimes found performing in a style she likes to call: Texas Slav. A friend of KPFT, an HISD teacher at Burbank Middle School, we are pleased to welcome Loreta Kovacic to this edition of Open Journal.