Listen, Learn, and Lunch with Asian Sound Revolution

This family-friendly program provides a chance to hear the captivating music of international acclaimed musicians, Jin Hi Kim, Min Xiao-Fen, and Susie Ibarra, who utilize classic instruments, stylized vocal techniques, electronic effects, and improvisations to make a musical style all their own. Learn about the ancient instruments, musical traditions from across Asia, as well as the new sounds created by this powerhouse ensemble both individually and collectively. The demonstration will be followed by a special Q&A session with the artists and an opportunity to try delicious regional cuisine!

Lunch will be provided to those who register.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Jin Hi Kim – electric komungo, janggo, voice

Innovative komungo virtuoso Jin Hi Kim is a Guggenheim Fellow Composer, United States Artists Fellow, Asian Cultural Council Fellow, Fondation for Contemporary Arts Music Fellow, and American Composers Fellow. She has performed as a soloist in her own compositions at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and around the world. In 2021 GRAMMY.com wrote "A Musical Philosopher And Radiator Of Electricity: Jin Hi Kim." She creates new works with her dual identity between ancient Korean roots and contemporary American society. She is known as a pioneer for introducing 4th century komungo (geomungo) into the American contemporary music scene and for extensive solo performances on the world’s only electric komungo with live interactive computer system. Peter Waltrous of the New York Times said, “… promises thoughtful, shimmering East-West amalgams in combinations that are both new and unlikely to be repeated.”

Min Xiao-Fen – pipa, sanxian, voice

Few artists have done more to both honor and reinvent the 2000-year history of the pipa than soloist, vocalist and composer Min Xiao-Fen. Classically trained in her native China, she served as a principal pipa soloist at Nanjing Traditional Music Orchestra and was an in-demand interpreter of traditional music before relocating to the United States and forging a new path for her instrument alongside many of the leading lights in modern jazz, free improvisation and contemporary classical music. NPR Weekend Edition lauded Ms. Min as “one of the world’s greatest virtuosos” and The New York Times raved that her singular work “has traversed a sweeping musical odyssey.” In 2023, Min received a commission from the Smithsonian Institution in 2023 to compose new original soundtracks for two historical Chinese silent films from the 1920s, the two scores are being recorded for her album Metta this year, released and performed with the films at the Big Ears Festival 2023. The GRAMMY U selected her as a mentor for 2023 and 2024. Min’s other notable works include the 2021 album White Lotus, her original score to the 1934 silent film The Goddess, and the deeply personal 2017 release Mao, Monk and Me, which explores the music of Thelonious Monk.

Susie Ibarra – sarunay, drumset, percussion

Susie Ibarra is a Filipinx composer, percussionist, and sound artist. Her interdisciplinary practice includes composition, performance, mobile sound-mapping applications, multichannel audio installations, recording, and documentary. Among her many projects, she is the founder of Susie Ibarra Studio and, with artist-musician and engineer Jake Landau, the label and publisher Habitat Sounds. She works to support Indigenous and traditional music cultures, like musika katutubo from the Philippines, advocates for the stewardship of glaciers and freshwaters, and supports initiatives in addressing water and desert climate, and women and girls education as with Joudour Sahara, Morocco. Ibarra leads several ensembles including Talking Gong Trio with Claire Chase and Alex Pe and performed in events and venues such as Carnegie Hall; 2016 Rio Olympics; and the Sharjah Biennial. Her book Rhythm in Nature: An Ecology of Rhythm released this year 2024. Upcoming albums will include newly premiered 2024 compositions Sky Islands for extended Talking Gong Ensemble with Bergamot Quartet, and Parallels and Confluences Bugang at Pasig for piano quintet with Daniel Doña, Alex Peh and Arneis Quartet. Recent honors include a 2024 DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program fellowship, for which she is based in Berlin, and 2024 Charles Ives Fellowship with the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a Foundation for Contemporary Arts 2022 Music Fellow, United States Artists 2019 Music Fellow, TED Senior Fellow 2016, and National Geographic Explorers Storyteller 2020 for her work on sound mapping glaciers and glacial rivers in the Indian and Sikkim Himalayas. Susie Ibarra is a Yamaha, Zildjian, and Vic Firth Drum Artist.

This event is co-sponsored with the International House Global Voices Program, Center for East Asian Studies, and is generously supported with a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

RELATED EVENTS

Click here for tickets for the October 13th Asian Sound Revolution Performance.