Oct 25
Guest Concert | mOthertongue: Lived experience in Asian America
mOthertongue: Lived experience in Asian America
Jennifer Lien, soprano
Lina Yoo-Min Lee, piano
Images of Asia have long sparked the European musical imagination. As described by European poets and composers, these images include exotic landscapes and fetishized female figures, stereotypes that remain even as the Asian diaspora has taken root and claimed citizenship all over the world.
With three newly-commissioned song cycles by Asian American composers Justine F. Chen, Melissa Dunphy, and Kamala Sankaram, this recital asserts Asian American lived experience from the perspective of those of us who live it. As contrasted with Maurice Ravel’s Asie, a prime example of European musical Orientalism, these new songs describe the joys, pains, contradictions, and pride we experience as Asians living in this land we call home.
Co-commissioned by soprano Jennifer Lien* & Cincinnati Song Initiative
with generous support from the Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Individuals grant
*Soprano Jennifer Lien is a fiscal year 2024 recipient of a Creative Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage fund.
from Music Department