Composer
“Audacious, compelling and hugely imaginative.”
Sometimes a song can mean freedom or death. I create musical events to hold tension between these extremes. My songs of dislocation honor the challenges and rituals of people who gather to listen.
As the child of immigrants, I listen to stories from hard-working individuals who work hard not to regret. As a queer Asian American, I acknowledge the privileges and responsibilities of being a U.S. citizen by birthright. Musicalizing ways out of oppression informs my process as an American composer on the brink of 2020.
Nature grounds my music. I witness trees and waterways connect earth and sky while living on Ohlone land. In the midst of a climate crisis, I combine music composition, ecology, and protest as an Assistant Professor in Performing Arts & Social Justice at the University of San Francisco. Thank you for visiting. I hope we can work together on music for a changing world.
Chan Family Picnic [sold out]
Chinese Historical Society of America · San Francisco
~Leo Stutzin, Huffington Post
Sometimes a song can mean freedom or death. I create musical events to hold tension between these extremes. My songs of dislocation honor the challenges and rituals of people who gather to listen.
As the child of immigrants, I listen to stories from hard-working individuals who work hard not to regret. As a queer Asian American, I acknowledge the privileges and responsibilities of being a U.S. citizen by birthright. Musicalizing ways out of oppression informs my process as an American composer on the brink of 2020.
Nature grounds my music. I witness trees and waterways connect earth and sky while living on Ohlone land. In the midst of a climate crisis, I combine music composition, ecology, and protest as an Assistant Professor in Performing Arts & Social Justice at the University of San Francisco. Thank you for visiting. I hope we can work together on music for a changing world.
Upcoming
December 14, 2019Chan Family Picnic [sold out]
Chinese Historical Society of America · San Francisco
January 13-17, 2020
Livable Futures Climate Gathering
The Movement Lab at Barnard College · New York
June TBA 2020
Activist Songbook
International Festival of Arts & Ideas · New Haven
→ more in Calendar
Highlights
A music theater forum about coming of age in an age of guns performed at the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, International Festival of Arts & Ideas, MDC Live Arts, NYU, and other venues
Stuck Elevator
A comic-rap-scrap-metal-opera about a trapped man performed at American Conservatory Theater, International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and other venues
Mò Shēng 墨声 Ink Sound
A string quartet calligraphy installation performed at the Frye Art Museum
Turbine
For 80+ moving voices along the water performed by the Leah Stein Dance Company and Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia for the 200th anniversary of the Fairmount Water Works
Piano Concerto–Houston
An interview installation for 11 pianists and one piano presented at the CounterCurrent Festival of the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts
→ more in Music
Articles
- (Be)longing Explores Gun Violence, 10 Years After Virginia Tech Shooting on NPR
- Turbine stirs voice and movement into water in The Philadelphia Inquirer
- Commissioning Journeys: When the Place Shapes the Music in Chorus America
- A trapped man is the unlikely subject of a moving musical in Variety
- Stuck Elevator: Top-flight in the San Francisco Chronicle
Interviews
- Philippa Kelly War of the Roses Interview for Cal Shakes
- Imani Roach Useful Protest Music Interview in Artblog
- Shin Yu Pai Exit Interview in CityArts
- Art Zone Composer Video Interview on Vimeo
- Gavin Borchert Water Music Interview in the Seattle Weekly
→ more in News
Awards
- Artist Trust
- Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle
- Creative Capital
- Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
- MAP Fund
- New Music USA
- Time Warner Foundation
- William Penn Foundation
Residencies
- New Strands Festival
- Asian Arts Initiative (ex)CHANGE: History Place Presence
- Exploratorium Artistic Practice towards Urban Resilience
- Hermitage Artist Retreat
- Montalvo Arts Center
- NYU Asian/Pacific/American Institute
- Sundance Institute Theatre Lab
- Yale Institute for Music Theatre
Service
- Music of the Asian American Research Center Board Member
- NEFA National Theater Project Advisor
- Velocity Dance Center Advisory Board
→ more in CV
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