Born in Minsk, Belarus, Alla Borzova has received numerous prestigious awards for her highly imaginative music since moving to the United States in 1993. Songs for Lada is a theatrical cantata which explores the world of childhood through rhymes, dances and stories, illustrated by effects including folk instruments and birdsong. To the New World portrays an imaginary ship bearing immigrant groups whose traditional music suggests their thoughts and feelings at the prospect of joining the great cultural "melting pot" of America. Internationally acclaimed American conductor Leonard Slatkin began his appointment as Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in September 2008. In addition to his post at the DSO, August 2011 marked the start of his tenure as Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lyon in France.