St. Lawrence resident, composer dreamed of coming to Canada

Kimberly Spice  –

Igor Vrabac was asked by a Canadian Consulate officer in Budapest, why he wanted to come to Canada and after answering he wanted to live his dream of being a composer, it must have had an impact because it brought him into the country.

“I went to this interview and I will never forget the consul,” Vrabac told The Bulletin. “He was drinking his coffee and I was sitting across the desk with my hair down to my ass. So he’s not looking at me. I’m just a file. He’s looking at all his documents doing his mundane job, examining me, and cross questioning me. He knew his job really well.”

“Finally after about 45 minutes of this he says, ‘So why Canada?’ He’s not making eye contact ever. I said it could be any country where I can resume my life and pursue my dream. At that point he stopped what he was doing and for the first time looked at me and you could see this look of personal curiosity. He goes, ‘What is the dream?’ and I said to be a composer. He gazed off through me into the distance for about 5 seconds as if I struck a chord, and then came back, looked at me and said, ‘That’s a pretty good dream to have. I guess Canada could use a few composers.’ He signed off and I got the landed immigrant papers.”

Vrabac’s journey to Canada was not an easy one. He escaped from Serbia July 16, 1993, at the age of 22 by illegally crossing the border into Hungary. He landed in Canada at Pearson International Airport on November 16, 1993.

Vrabac’s interest in composing began at the age of 12 after seeing the movie Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back. He was riddled with the questions about music, composing and careers allowing people to write music for the movies. Through the guidance of his older brother, who was eight years older, Vrabac had a very clear vision of the direction he wanted to take with his own musical abilities. At the age of 13 he knew he wanted a career as a musician and by the age of 17 being a composer became his dream and by the time he reached the age of 24 he knew that a film composer was his destiny.

Vrabac’s mother did not push any of her children into music, but always wanted them to know about music.

“My mom only said that I want my kids to know about music,” Vrabac commented. “Going through life and being deprived of it is like you’re missing one of your senses. You will be better equipped through life, regardless of what you do, if you are not deaf to this other realm that music connects us to.”

The St. Lawrence Market area resident has an extensive resume. His most recent achievement is a full-length motion picture called Dr. Cabbie, with Toronto-born Vinay Virmani as executive producer starring  Adrianne Palicki and Kunal Nayyar (who plays Raj Koothrapali in The Big Bang Theory). The film has a September release date.

Vrabac’s successes include a number of commercials such as Rickard’s Red, Credit Canada and Mitsubishi and television shows such as Freaky Stories, the first season of Mutant-X and a number of indie films.

Vrabac’s experiences could easily fill a novel. Maybe that will be his next project.

Follow his career at www.igorvrabac.com.