Diana Schwam, soprano Chuanyuan Liu, countertenor Ryan McCullough, piano

A virtual concert exploring the Asian and Asian-American experience through story and song. This program encapsulates the Asian-American experience and highlights Asian and Asian-American composers, creating a space to question and discover the ambiguities of our identities through story and song.

REJECTION

This Land Is Your Land Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) Woody Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his American folk music

I will learn to love a person and then I will teach you and then we will know Chris Cerrone from I will learn to love a person (Lin) (b. 1984)

Tao Lin is a Chinese-American novelist and poet

Now Close the Windows Ke-Chia Chen from Three Frost Songs (2011) (b. 1979)

Ke-Chia Chen is a Taiwanese-American composer

Where Would I Go (2020, World Premiere) Dante De Silva (b. 1978) Dante De Silva is a Filipino-American composer

REALIZATION

Diamond Impressions Chihchun Chi-sun Lee from Sentiments (1996) (b. 1970)

Chihchun Chi-sun Lee is Taiwanese-American composer

Smoke and Distance (Lowell/Aldington) Tonia Ko (b. 1988) Born in Hong Kong and raised in Hawai’i, composer Tonia Ko now lives in London

Sa Ugoy ng Duyan (Celerio) Lucio San Pedro (1913-2002) Lucio San Pedro was a Filipino composer and teacher

Yu Meiren Jiasheng Zhou Shuidiao Getou (b. 1950) Jiasheng Zhou is a Chinese-American pianist and composer

ACCEPTANCE

1. To— Bun-Ching Lam 3. To— (b. 1954) from Last Love Songs (1995)

Bun-Ching Lam is a Chinese-American composer

High Window (1996) Jo Kondo (b. 1947) Jo Kondo is a Japanese composer and member of the American Academy

Bulakak lyrics by Jason Darrow/music by Gilbert Bécaud Arr. by George Canceso George Cancesco was a Filipino composer (1934-2004)

To the Thawing Wind Ke-Chia Chen from Three Frost Songs (2011)

Oh, Shenandoah Trad., arr. Ryan McCullough (b. 1987)

PROGRAM NOTES

Since a collective of Asian and Asian-American composers and poets are featured in this concert, we thought it would be worthwhile to share a bit about each piece and its origin, and how it has found its place in this concert.

Woody Guthrie wrote this This Land Is Your Land in his room at the Hanover House Hotel in New York in 1940. Guthrie wrote this in response to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” It is one of America’s most famous folk songs and is used as a representation of America. This song is a song many of us heard, if we grew up in the States, and it brings into question the emotional and physical acceptance of America being a land that is our land as well. Is this land really our land? Has this land really been made for you and me?

Chris Cerrone’s song cycle I will learn to love a person is set to poems by Tao Lin. Cerrone composed this cycle in 2013 with the idea of creating a work that mirrors the beautiful and strange experience of growing up at the turn of the century. Lin’s poetry from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (2008) embodies simplicity at its finest. The poet Jennifer Moore discusses Lin’s poetry as being a part of the “New Sincerity” movement. This type of poetry is defined as being direct, self-doubting, emotional, and stripped down. With the ambiguity of this type of poetry and our identities as Asians or Asian-Americans, Diana feels as if this piece is almot autobiographical. She constantly is living in a limbo, feeling neither here nor there, and as a result, she experiences an overwhelming sense of isolation. This movement in Cerrone’s cycle shows how a contemplative and thought-provoking monologue of a young woman yearning for others to listen to her and hear her cries.

Now Close the Windows, the first piece from Ke-Chia Chen’s Three Frost Songs, captures one’s preparation for a rainstorm: how one would want to shut off everything they think is bad to achieve a moment of safety. That feeling is interestingly universal, and especially when we question our identities or try extra-hard to fit in a new cultural environment. Chen paints the action with great contrast between the peaceful moments— before the storm and after the window is closed—and the dark and intense motion of the wind.

The world premiere of Where Would I Go by Dante De Silva portrays the sacrifices made by Dante’s Filipino family (and similar families) when family members move halfway around the world in search for a better life. The emotional toll on the ones moving away is drastically different than the emotional toll on the ones left behind, although all parties are filled with loneliness and uncertainty. Where Would I Go deals with the sadness of a young man who has moved away and the sacrifice of the mother he has left behind. Diana and Chuanyuan both resonate with this text in how they have both felt worlds away from their Asian heritage during their time in the States. Feeling alone and uncertain in their Asian identities has given both of them emotional and physical burdens. They are honored to premiere De Silva’s piece in this concert.

Sentiments is a song cycle written by Chihchun Chi-sun Lee in direct collaboration with the poets based on different aspects of human emotion. In Diamond Impressions, lyricst Bob Janes paints the story of the “girl of yellow diamonds”—a stained-glass window of a deli shop and how the beautiful shadow of the girl on the floor moves as the sun changes positions throughout the day. However, as the focus changes at the end of the day from the shadow to the actual window. That same girl, who we think is the perfect, most ideal version of it all, is in fact not what we think she actually is. Lee references the Cool Jazz Ballad style of the 1950s and ‘60s, and to Chuanyuan, both the music style and the text encapsulate the America he lived in. The beauty and the dream might just be a vision on the deli floor, and the America that one experiences is not the America one expects.

Tonia Ko’s Smoke and Distance comprises two distinct texts by Amy Lowell and Richard Aldington. They are united by the images of night, the color blue, and a reflection on a former love. Ko focuses on the intimate qualities of each text and uses the piano part to intertwine closely with the vocal line. The pianist is also asked to create his own sound inside the instrument, creating a resonance that expands into the poetic meaning of these texts. At the climax of the piece, the images collide and despite the distance, the narrator realizes that their former love has not left them but has been renewed. Diana sees this love as a misty figure of her Asian-ness: a love that she has never fully grabbed hold of and a love that seems distant. But through the blue smoke and the night, Diana realizes that the smoke does vanish and reveals more than she ever thought possible. Her identity is not a reflection but a concrete existence.

Bulakak is a well-known pop song in the Philippines that has a transnational journey. The words were adapted by Filipino composer George Masangkay Canseco from “L’important, c’est la rose,” a song co-written by American composer Jason Darrow and French singer Gilbert Bécaud. Therefore, these words have traveled through many cultures and experiences, such Diana’s experience as an Asian-American. This song speaks of a beautiful flower and how that flower carries you through life’s sorrows and joys. Growing up, Diana would sing this song with her mother on their karaoke machine. She would see how her mother was comforted by these words, whether it was by the message of the song or by singing in Tagalog, she saw how she was comforted. Usually, they would sing this song as a duet at Filipino gatherings but for this concert, Diana will be singing Bulakak on her own. She dedicates this one to her mom and for everything she has done for Diana to have a life in the states.

Sa Ugoy ng Duyan is a Filipino lullaby that is translated as “in the rocking of the cradle.” This song was composed by Lucio San Pedro with texts by Levi Celerio. Pedro came from a musical family and ended up studying with musicians in the Philippines, Netherlands, and in New York City at The Juilliard School in 1947. Diana first heard this lullaby last year performed by one of her Filipino friends, Pauline Tan, who sang it at a concert with Aural Compass Projects. Friends like Pauline have brought Diana closer to her Filipino roots and she feels as if they are a huge part of her relationship with her Filipino-ness. This lullaby is for the people who have brought you closer to your roots.

The poem Yu Meiren (虞美人) was written by Yu Li, the last emperor of Southern Tang. When he wrote the poem in 978 CE, the empire had been defeated and he had been imprisoned for almost three years. The poem highlights the pain of reminiscing about the country and life he had lost, and Jiasheng Zhou captures the contemplation with detailed subtlety and extensive piano accompaniment. A pianist himself, Jiasheng also gives the pianist a place to shine in his setting of Shuidiao Getou (水 调歌头). The poem was written by Shi Su, one of the most celebrated poets in Chinese history. Su wrote the poem on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival of the year 1076 CE. The poem centers around the moon, yet eventually incorporates the sorrows and joys of the world into the philosophical pursuit of the universal life. It expresses the poet’s longing for his relatives, and also expresses his optimistic view about hardship. It was not until the pandemic that Chuanyuan realized how little people in the US know about Asian culture, especially that of China. It was also not until then that he realized how few Chinese songs he himself knew, because of his background in Western classical music. These two songs capture the exact moment of Chuanyuan’s own realization and opened his eyes to the musical richness of Chinese culture.

Bun-Ching Lam’s song cycle Last Love Songs was commissioned by and written for American baritone Thomas Buckner in 1995, with poems by English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The three songs in the cycle encapsulate one's feelings when they say ‘love’ for the very last time. The two songs featured here, both titled To—, highlights the interior struggle to convince one’s self that one’s love is still there, even though the singer and those they love are separated. This draws a connection to leaving home, and especially to those who might find themselves in a position where they don’t know when they will be back home, or to those who have to give up their citizenship to their home country for a naturalization in the US. We hope the relationship between self and home always stays, and that there is always love inside us for our roots, wherever they may be.

To the Thawing Wind is the third song from Ke-Chia Chen’s cycle, Three Frost Songs. As the title suggests, this song highlights the calming sensation of melting down and warming up. Chen starts the piece with a chant-like a cappella section, and then repeats the words with piano accompaniment imitating the melting ice. As it grows to the end, the music together with the thawing wind drives the poet out of the door to experience the fresh, warm world that they might have left behind in the first piece. Chuanyuan connects this to the full acceptance of who he is and embraces what he can bring with this new-found self.

Oh, Shenandoah is an American traditional folk song dating to the early 19th century by rivermen and sailors, referring to a Native American chief. This song has been rather personal to both Diana and Chuanyuan. When first coming to the States, Chuanyuan went to college in Virginia, the home of the Shenandoah Valley, and sang this American folk song in various arrangements. It gives them an opportunity to make it even more inclusive by singing one of the verses in Tagalog and Chinese. They hope to show that Asian-American music is any music that flows through one who identifies as being Asian or Asian-American.

TEXT AND TRANSLATIONS

This Land Is Your Land Guthrie This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the New York Island From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf stream waters This land was made for you and me.

I will learn to love a person and then I will teach you and then we will know Cerrone/Lin seen from a great enough distance I cannot be seen i feel this as an extremely distinct sensation of feeling like shit; the effect of small children is that they use declarative sentences and then look at your face with an expression that says, ‘you will never do enough for the people you love’; i can feel the universe expanding and it feels like no one is trying hard enough the effect of this is an extremely shitty sensation of being the only person alive; i have been alone for a very long time it will take an extreme person to make me feel less alone the effect of being alone for a very long time is that I have been thinking very hard and learning about existence, mortality loneliness, people, society, and love; i am afraid that i am not learning fast enough; i can feel the universe expanding and it feels like no one has ever tried hard enough; when i cried in your room it was the effect of an extremely distinct sensation that ‘I am the only person alive,’ ‘i have not learned enough,’ and ‘i can feel the universe expanding and making things be further apart and it feels like a declarative sentence whose message is that we must try harder’

Now Close the Windows Chen/Frost Now close the windows and hush all the fields; If the trees must, let them silently toss; No bird is singing now, and if there is, Be it my loss.

It will be long ere the marshes resume, It will be long ere the earliest bird: So close the windows and not hear the wind, But see all wind-stirred.

Where Would I Go? De Silva Diana: These people so full of joy and trust, they have somebody to share in all… These people they have somebody to share in all the grievances of life. And my wretched fortune seems incomparable because I am suffering now, now I am suffering.

Time was wasted by my birth, it would have been a thousand times better.... if I had died when I was born. I love my precious one, but I am not sure if I am worthy. Am I worthy?

Where would I go? I should have tried to explain but I was speechless, speechless, because obviously I will just fail. But I will feel enough joy if you know this, my love: I swear and promise that you will be the only love of my life. Where would I go? Where would I go. Where would I go?

Chuanyuan: Gliding downward the peace-buried, silence-toned Somewhere, driven by the gray Melody of the monotonous-rhymed rivulet,—Eternal chant of perennial spirits, My soul wrapped in warm darkness, I lost drowsily the memory of times. Roaming about the harmless sky through the chattering atoms, accompanied by the White Musician—the mountain breeze, more snowy than powdered marble—under poetry-stringed harp, My weightless soul, forgot the fancies of my shuddering passion. But for the remembering,—where would I go? Ever looking up to the high sky, heart-filled I breathe the Western airs under heavy tears. My shy soul was consoled then, as if I had drunk my mother’s sweet breath, love-frozen, out of the far West.

Diamond Impressions Lee/Janes She was a girl of yellow diamonds Inside a sunlit gleaming shop window Her single braid swaying as she moved Upon a quintessential airy summer day Her micro worlds of rosy capillaries Either side nose aquiline, refined Illumined keen eyes, dark and bright Attuned with purpose, so much confidence. Below her knees in front. her apron Showed legs lovely, curves behind And her movements in the sun Made me ever stay upon a summer’s day She was a girl of yellow diamonds Patterned in tile upon the deli floor Sweeping the shop at close of day In shadows of the neon sign Her movements took my breath that way Why should I linger Longer on the bench outside Desire aroused sans opportunity From four doors down the street I turned to catch a glimpse Saw swinging braid gavotte With every stride she took One hand held purse The other gripped tobacco stick Sweet pristine elegance dis-peared Like Monet’s sunlight shimmers Dark after gallery has closed Still I hold my sunny visions, rosy views Her moves and smile But the girl of yellow diamonds Is but a vision on the deli floor.

Smoke and Distance Ko/Lowell and Aldington Our meeting was like the upward swish of a rocket In the blue night. I do not know when it burst; But now I stand gaping. In a glory of falling stars.

from “Pyrotechnics” by Amy Lowell, 1919

The blue smoke leaps Like swirling clouds of birds vanishing. So my love leaps forth toward you, Vanishes and is renewed.

from “Images” by Richard Aldington, 1920

Sa Ugoy ng Duyan Pedro

Sana'y di magmaliw ang dati kong araw May the days of my youth never fade, Nang munti pang bata sa piling ni nanay when I was a little child in my mother’s arms, Nais kong maulit ang awit ni inang mahal I long to hear again my mother’s song, Awit ng pag-ibig habang ako'y nasa duyan A song of love as I lay in the cradle,

Sa aking pagtulog na labis ang himbing In my sweetest slumber, Ang bantay ko'y tala, ang tanod ko'y bituin The stars stand watch, my sentinels, Sa piling ni nanay, langit ay buhay In my mother’s arms, life is paradise, Puso kong may dusa sabik sa ugoy ng duyan My heart aches, pines for the sway of the cradle,

Ibig kong matulog sa dating duyan ko inan, oh, ina. I long to sleep in my cradle once more, mother.

Yu Meiren Zhou/Li

春花秋月何时了， When will there be no more autumn moon and spring flowers, 往事知多少？ How much of the past we remember were ours? 小楼昨夜又东风， My attic blew the east wind again last night, How painful to remember my lost homeland under 故国不堪回首月明中！ this moonlight bright!

Carved balustrades and jade steps must still be there, 雕栏玉砌应犹在， Only the rosy faces yet not know where. 只是朱颜改。 If you ask me how much sorrow has come to me. 问君能有几多愁？ Just see the endless river flowing east. 恰似一江春水向东流。

Shuidiao Getou

明月几时有？ When did the bright moon appear? 把酒问青天。 With a cup of wine in hand, I ask the heavenly sky. 不知天上宫阙， Don’t know, in the palaces up there, What year it is for them tonight? 今夕是何年？ I wish to ride the wind to fly home, 我欲乘风归去， Yet I fear the crystal and jade mansions in the sky, 又恐琼楼玉宇， Are much too high and cold for me. 高处不胜寒。 Dancing and playing with my moonlit shadow, 起舞弄清影， How can I be in the human world now?

何似在人间？ The moon turns behind the vermillion pavilion, Sinks upon the silk-pad doors, 转朱阁， Shines upon the sleepless. 低绮户， There shouldn’t be grudges between the moon and the people, 照无眠。 But why is the moon only full when people are 不应有恨， apart? People go through sorrow, joy, separation, and 何事长向别时圆？ reunion, 人有悲欢离合， The moon has its own cycle of being dim and bright, round and crescent, 月有阴晴圆缺， This imperfection has been there since the beginning of time. 其实古难全。 May we all be blessed, safe and sound, Though thousands of miles apart, we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together. 但愿人长久， 千里共婵娟。

To– Lam/Shelley When passion’s trance is overcast, If tenderness and truth could last Or live, whilst all wild feelings keep Some mortal slumber, dark and deep, I should not weep, I should not weep.

It were enough to feel, to see, Thy soft eyes gazing tenderly, And dream the rest - and burn and be The secret food of fires unseen, Couldst thou but be as thou hast been.

After the slumber of the year The woodland violets re-appear, All things revive in field or grove, And sky and sea, but two, which move, And form all others, life and love.

To– Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory; Do ours, when sweet violets sicken, Live within the sense they quicken;

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead, Are heaped for the beloved bed; And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone, Love itself shall slumber on. To the Thawing Wind Chen/Frost Come with rain, O loud Southwester! Bring the singer, bring the nester; Give the buried flower a dream; Make the settled snowbank steam; Find the brown beneath the white; But whate’er you do tonight, Bathe my window, make it flow, Melt it as the ice will go; Melt the glass and leave the sticks Like a hermit’s crucifix; Burst into my narrow stall; Swing the picture on the wall; Run the rattling pages o’er; Scatter poems on the floor; Turn the poet out of door.

Bulakak Canceso

Bulaklak, ang ganda ng bulaklak The flower, the flower is so beautiful Ang bango ng bulaklak The flower is so fragrant Dulot sa 'tin ay galak It brings me joy

Kung ika'y nalulungkot If sadness overwhelms you At wala kang makaibigan And you have no one to turn to Puso mo ay may sandigan Your heart will find a friend Bulaklak In the flower Mapapawi ang kirot The pain will fade Paghapyos mo ng talulot When you caress the petals, Ay ginhawa ang s'yang dulot They will soothe you — Bulaklak The flower

Bulaklak, ang ganda ng bulaklak The flower, the flower is so beautiful Ang bango ng bulaklak The flower is so fragrant Dulot sa 'tin ay galak It brings me joy

Kung ika'y nagmamahal If you are in love At di kayang mamutawi And the emotion is unspeakable Ang pag-ibig sa 'yong labi Behind your lips — Bulaklak The flower

Kung may karamdaman ka If you are hurting At kailangan ang paglingap And are in need of comfort, Di ba't pang-alis ng hirap Remember that it can ease your pain Bulaklak — the flower

Oh, Shenandoah Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you Away, you rolling river Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you Away, I’m bound away, cross the wide Missouri.

Oh, Shenandoah, 请再次歌唱 看那河水流向远方。 Oh, Shenandoah，我将去流浪 启航, 天地苍茫, 常存故乡在心上。

Oh, Shenandoah, nais kitang marinig Palayo, ika’y umaagos na ilog Oh, Shenandoah, nais kitang marinig Palayo, hinihila palayo, sa ibayo ng kalawakan ng Missouri.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Filipino-American soprano Diana Schwam is a singing storyteller who strives to create a relational existence between our stories, our suffering and our joy. As a first generation Filipino-American, Diana is passionate about being an ambassador of her identity and hopes to use her artistry to create a welcoming space for the Asian-American community. In recital, Diana has appeared at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in the Albany Symphony’s Clara Schumann Festival and at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts alongside Stephanie Blythe and Craig Terry. Diana was scheduled to make her Carnegie Hall debut in Stern Auditorium as the soprano soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5, but due to COVID-19, this event was cancelled. On stage, she has performed the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon, La Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites), Zdenka (Arabella), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte). As an alumna of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Diana holds a bachelor of music in vocal performance and is currently receiving her master’s degree from Bard College-Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program. Her teachers include Lorraine Nubar, Stephanie Blythe, Kayo Iwama, Erika Switzer, and Lucy Fitz Gibbon. For more information, see www.dianaschwam.com.

Praised for his “natural, sensitive feel with embedded lyrical nuance,” (The Millbrook Independent), Chinese countertenor Chuanyuan Liu has been seen performing works ranging from the Baroque to world premieres. In the 2019-2020 season, he made his debut in the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, performing in art song concerts for the Albany Synphony’s Clara Schumann Festival. He debuted the role of Arsamene in Handel’s Serse with the Chautauqua Institution, and co-wrote and performed as Mercédès in the premiere of devised opera production Rest in Pieces: In Memory of Opera, directed by internationally famous mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chuanyuan has felt compelled to be an advocate of underrepresented communities. In the summer of 2020, Chuanyuan was featured as a guest artist for Fill in the Blank Ensemble, a singer-initiated concert series dedicated to filling in voids within the classical music community, and Vision Possible Charity Concert Series, a fundraising concert marathon to benefit various non-profit charity organizations. Chuanyuan received a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Statistics from University of Virginia. Now a second-year master's student at Bard College Conservatory of Music, Chuanyuan is the first countertenor in their Graduate Vocal Arts Program, studying with Joan Patenaude-Yarnell. For more information, please visit www.liuchuanyuan.com.

Born in Boston and raised behind the “Redwood Curtain” of Northern California, pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough has developed a variegated career as soloist, vocal and instrumental collaborator, composer, recording artist, and pedagogue. Ryan’s music-making encompasses work with historical keyboards, electro- acoustic tools and instruments, and close collaborations with some of today’s foremost composers. His longstanding collaborative (and life) partnership with soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon has yielded a substantial crop of new art song repertoire, as well as his work in contemporary ensemble and commissioning project HereNowHear, 2017 recipient of a Fromm Foundation award. Ryan’s growing discography features many world premiere recordings, including solo piano works of Milosz Magin (Acte Prealable), Andrew McPherson (Secrets of Antikythera, Innova), John Liberatore (Line Drawings, Albany), Nicholas Vines (Hipster Zombies from Mars, Navona), art song and solo piano music of John Harbison and James Primosch with Ms. Fitz Gibbon (Descent/Return, Albany), and forthcoming albums of art song by Sheila Silver (Albany, also with Ms. Fitz Gibbon) and electroacoustic music by Christopher Stark (New Focus). He has also appeared on PBS’s Great Performances (Now Hear This, “The Schubert Generation”) and is an alumnus of NPR’s From the Top. Ryan has been featured as concerto soloist with major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony, and has appeared at festivals and concert halls around the world. He holds degrees in music from Humboldt State University, the Colburn Conservatory, the University of Southern California, the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, and Cornell University. He currently lives in Kingston, NY, and is a collaborative piano fellow in the Bard College-Conservatory of Music. For additional information and curios, visit www.RyanMMcCullough.com.

COMPOSER AND POET BIOGRAPHIES

Dante De Silva is a Los Angeles-based composer and musician. His music has been described as “haunting” (Classical Sonoma) and “beautiful” (Los Angeles Times) to “sparkling” (San Francisco Classical Voice) and “fun” (Sequenza21). From his early days in a rock band up until the present, Dante has always aimed to create music that evokes emotions ranging from the simple to the complex. To conjure those emotions, his compositions incorporate a characteristic balance of lyricism, simplicity, humor, fragility, and even savagery. Dante holds a Ph.D. in composition from UCLA, where his primary teachers were David Lefkowitz and Paul Reale, an M.A. in composition from UC Santa Cruz with David Cope and Paul Nauert, and a B.A. in music with an emphasis in piano performance from Humboldt State University, where he studied with Brian Post (composition), Eugene Novotney (percussion, composition), and Deborah Clasquin (piano).

Ke-Chia Chen’s compositions have been performed by leading orchestras, chamber ensembles and soloists throughout the United States and Asia. Her music has been programmed at a variety of esteemed venues and organizations including Carnegie Hall, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Taiwan Philharmonic, Philadelphia WHYY radio, and the Delaware Symphony Orchestra’s Miles of Manuscript music series.

Tonia Ko’s creative evolution is largely guided by three conceptual pillars: texture, physical movement, and the relationship between melody and memory. These ideas permeate her recent works across a variety of media—from instrumental solos and large ensemble pieces, to paintings and sound installations. No matter how traditional or experimental the medium, Ko's work reveals a core that is at once whimsical, questioning, and lyrical. Ko was born in Hong Kong in 1988 and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She earned a B.M. with Highest Distinction from the Eastman School of Music and an M.M. from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. At IU, she served as Associate Instructor of Music Theory and was awarded the Georgina Joshi Commission Prize. She holds a D.M.A. from Cornell University, where she studied with Steven Stucky and Kevin Ernste. She was the 2018-19 Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition and was appointed Lecturer in Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London in 2020.

Taiwanese-American composer Chihchun Chi-sun Lee, winner of the 1st Biennial Brandenburg Symphony International Composition Competition in Germany and 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, is originally from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In 2017, she is honored with Alumni Achievement Award in Music in Recognition of Outstanding Contribution to Music at Ohio University’s 100th anniversary of music department.

Described as “alluringly exotic” (The New York Times), and “hauntingly attractive” (San Francisco Chronicle), the music of Bun-Ching Lam has been performed worldwide by such ensembles as the Macao Orchestra, American Composer’s Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, The Vienna Radio Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the Albany Symphony. Born in Macao, Lam has served as the composer-in-residence of the Macao Orchestra from 2008-2016. She began her piano study in her native city, then further pursued her music education in Hong Kong and the United States. She holds a B.A. degree in Piano Performance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University of California at San Diego. She has taught at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, and served as Visiting Professor at the Yale University School of Music and at Bennington College.

Christopher Cerrone (b. 1984) is internationally acclaimed for compositions characterized by a subtle handling of timbre and resonance, a deep literary fluency, and a flair for multimedia collaborations. Recent commissions include a violin concerto for Jennifer Koh and the Detroit Symphony, an antiphonal brass concerto for the Cincinnati Symphony, a piano concerto for Shai Wosner and the Phoenix and Albany Symphonies; a percussion concerto for Third Coast Percussion, and three works for the LA Philharmonic. His opera, Invisible Cities, based on Italo Calvino’s novel, was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize and his sophomore album, The Pieces That Fall to Earth, was released on New Amsterdam Records in July 2019 to critical acclaim and a GRAMMY nomination. He is also the winner of the 2015-2016 Samuel Barber Rome Prize in Music Composition. Christopher Cerrone holds degrees from Yale and the Manhattan School of Music, is published by Schott NY. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner. Christophercerrone.com.

Tao Lin was born in 1983 and earned a BA in journalism from New York University. Known for its flat, affectless style Lin’s work is loaded with references to pop culture and new media and communication technologies. He is the author of the novels Taipei (2013), Richard Yates (2010), and Eeeee Eee Eeee (2007); he has also written the novella Shoplifting from American Apparel (2009), and the short story collection Bed (2007). His collections of poetry include you are a little bit happier than i am (2006) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (2008).

George G. Hernandez is the founder, artistic director and conductor of the Saringhimig Singers in the San Francisco bay area. His choir has won top prizes and prestigious awards at numerous International competitions. His vision is to promote unity and understanding among people through the beauty of music. Mr. Hernandez studied choral conducting, composition, and piano from the University of the Philippines. He later also studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for his degree in Voice Performance. He has sung with San Francisco Opera Chorus for several years.

Because of his love for Peking Opera, singing and dancing from childhood, Jia Sheng Zhou joined China Broadcast Children's Choir of China National Radio (now CCTV’s Boys Choir) at the age of nine. He was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music junior class when he was ten, learning piano performance. Mr. Zhou immigrated to United States in 1989 and settled in San Diego, California. He has taught in several community colleges and founded the Zhou & Chen Piano Studio. In the past 25 years, he has trained numerous outstanding students who have won top awards in piano competitions every year. In order to promote Chinese music in US, Mr. Zhou established the Annual San Diego Chinese Music Piano Competition in 2005 and it has been running annually ever since. ______

This concert is partnering with Wear Yellow Proudly, an initiative with Aural Compass Projects that was started during COVID-19 due to the xenophobia directed towards Asian people. In order to combat this, Wear Yellow Proudly brings awareness to Asian culture and strengthens ties within the global community during the COVID-19 pandemic. To stay up to date, follow Wear Yellow Proudly on social media @wearyellowproudly and see https://www.auralcompassprojects.org/wear-yellow-proudly.

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Stay up to date with what is going on with neither here nor there on social media! Website: neitherherenorthere.live Instagram: @neither.here.nor.there_ Facebook: @the.neither.here.nor.there ______