Grammy nominations were announced earlier today and in the classical recording category is ‘80s hair metal standout Kip Winger under the moniker C.F. Kip Winger with his debut classical album Winger: Conversations With Nijinsky. The Los Angeles Times spoke with Winger about his nomination.

What drew you to Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, and how did you turn that curiosity into a composition?

Winger: “At the time, I was reading a lot of books about Nijinksy. There was a point in one of the movements where I was composing this one section, and all of a sudden — and this sounds weird, but — I was struck with the spirit of Nijinsky, where the material that I was reading all came together.

“I was only halfway done with the piece, and then all of a sudden it was like ... whatever that creative muse is just comes in like a bolt of lightning and you’re having a dialogue with Nijinsky. That’s what happened, so it became a dedication to Nijinsky. I was writing what I saw as the unseen dances of Nijinsky — had he not gone insane.”

Does this feel like artistic vindication?

“Yes, it does, to be quite frank. We took a lot of heat. I personally took a lot of heat in the music business with MTV and all that stuff. The irony of my life was that my whole thing is like, there’s two things I want to do in life: study music and write music. So being kind of a musicologist geek that I am, it was ironic to become known as a poseur-y ’80s figure. 

“For me, I just feel really, I do feel proud of myself that I really stuck to my guns and just kept going. This is what I am. And this is what’s important to me.”