Courtesy of October Project

First-year roommates turned award-winning music group, October Project performed at the Yale Club in New York on Oct. 8. 

The classical musician Marina Belica ’81 and the poet Julie Flanders ’81 were suitemates in Vanderbilt Hall their first year. Adding Emil Adler, Belica’s hometown friend, the Morse College duo became a trio. 

With Flanders writing lyrics, Belica on vocals and Adler composing, October Project was born. Their first album, titled “October Project,” was released in 1993.

“We were a very eclectic group of people,” said Belica. “I had a classical music background, Julie also, [and] Emil was self-taught on the piano, but pursuing a degree in music theory and composition. We really had to work together to figure out our sound, which we did really almost for a full year before we played out our first concert.”

For Belica and Flanders, their time at Yale was an integral part of their musical journey. The music and English majors bonded over their love for music — co-writing and co-producing a show while at Yale. 

The trio solidified their musical collaboration through the BMI Musical Theater Workshop, a premiere training program for emerging musicians. 

Adler described the class as “excruciating,” but foundational to the group’s musical journey.

The group then practiced together for a year before their first live performance, rehearsing in  Adler’s garage three times a week. They assessed compositions based on a gut feeling. 

“One of the measures of success was whether we felt the little hairs on the back of our neck go up,” said Flanders. “There’s one song in particular, where it’s just voices and they’re cascading over one another. It’s a song called ‘Always’ and you almost felt like you were levitating when you got it right, because it’s so, so magnificent.”

October Project’s musical style amalgamates different genres — from a capella and choral to pop and classical music — to create a unique and spiritual listening experience. Despite not adhering to one specific musical category, the band has found popularity and renown with worldwide audiences. It is the genre-defying nature of their music that has led to praise from spiritual teachers, composers and writers alike, Adler said. 

The virtual choral performance of their song “Return to Me” won a Gold Telly Award in 2023. Their most recent music video “This Is For You,” was crafted in collaboration with the Ukrainian visual artist Kseniya Simonova, who won Ukraine’s Got Talent in 2009. 

Their music videos are a visual continuation of the stories the group tells in their songs. In “This Is For You,” viewers see the progression of Simonova’s drawing paired with the song’s lyrics. In contrast, their video of “Joy (Virtual Choir of Joy)” is created by compiling the videotapes of 163 performers from 15 countries, as the grids of Zoom-like boxes create the choir. The performance won a Bronze Telly Award in 2022 and a Silver Anthem Award in the same year.

“When music started to become visual, it became incredibly important to think visually,” said Flanders. “I think theatrically, so [visual art] is very much considered and very much part of what we do in a very intentional way.”

October Project strives to build a musical community based on intentionality and collaboration. Their music has been performed at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. The group uses its success as a platform to raise funds for Angels for Ukraine, which supports the International Rescue Committee’s work in Ukraine. 

The group also sponsors an annual poetry contest to support poets and their work. Flanders’s poetry anthologies have reached best-seller status on Amazon, and she has produced two short films featuring her work. The animated film for her poem “Doubts” was featured at over 30 film festivals. 

The band has several new creative projects in the works, including an original musical. 

October Project’s music has previously been performed at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. 

Correction, Oct. 25: The story has been updated to reflect that October Project’s music, not the group itself, has been performed at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.