Crossing Boundaries is a concert series dedicated to dissolving boundaries between traditional and new music, performers and audiences, and the local and the global — bringing people together around the awareness that limitless creativity lives inside each of us.
About the series
Crossing Boundaries was conceived and founded in 2018 by CRS Director Christopher Pelham and Korean multi-instrumentalist and curator gamin. Each season, the series invites curators to create unique performance events in collaboration with musical, visual, and movement artists of their choosing — encounters that dissolve genre and open new possibilities for what a concert can be.
The series began as Crossing Boundaries — Echoes of Korea, three concerts focused on Korean and Korean-American artists. Since then it has grown into a wide-ranging annual series with a different curatorial vision each season.
| 2025 | Curated by gamin and Jen Shyu |
| 2024 | Curated by gamin and Rema Hasumi |
| 2023 | Curated by gamin and Jen Shyu |
| 2022 | Curated by gamin — theme: Women in Music |
| 2020–21 | Curated by gamin and Läle Sayoko — presented online due to the pandemic |
| 2019 | Curated by gamin, JunYi Chow, Läle Sayoko, and Jen Shyu |
| 2018 | Crossing Boundaries — Echoes of Korea |
Support
Crossing Boundaries is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts, administered by LMCC. LMCC empowers artists by providing them with networks, resources, and support to create vibrant, sustainable communities in Manhattan and beyond.


Past concerts

CRS Presents Crossing Boundaries 25: When the Ancestors Speak by Jen Shyu, Sumi Tonooka, and Val Jeanty
Dec 14, 2025

CRS & Fridman Gallery Present Crossing Boundaries 24: Between Breaths: A Sonic Memoir with gamin
Dec 1, 2025

CRS Presents Crossing Boundaries 23: “Unfolding Circle” by Oto Mugen
Dec 10, 2024

CRS Presents Crossing Boundaries 22: gamin x elizabeth hoffman
Sep 21, 2024

CRS Presents Crossing Boundaries 21: gamin x yuniya edi kwon: OO / LL / IM
Dec 20, 2023

CRS Presents Crossing Boundaries 20: When the Ancestors Speak by Jen Shyu, Sumi Tonooka, and Val Jeanty
Nov 5, 2023

CRS Presents Crossing Boundaries Concert Series #19: Careful in the Sun
Jan 28, 2023

Crossing Boundaries Vol. 16: FOCUSING ON HER
Dec 10, 2022

Crossing Boundaries Vol. 18: Freedom
Jul 16, 2022

Crossing Boundaries Vol. 17: Through Her Eyes
Jun 25, 2022

POSTPONED: Crossing Boundaries Vol. 16: FOCUSING ON HER (Benefit for Survivors of the 3.11 East Japan Earthquake)
Mar 12, 2022

CRS Presents Crossing Boundaries 15: Unforgotten Song
Jul 9, 2021

Crossing Boundaries Concert Series 14: Rumi’s Wedding Night Online Film
Dec 17 – Dec 30, 2020

Crossing Boundaries Concert Series Vol. 13: On the Silk Road Through Dunhuang
Nov 15 – Nov 23, 2020

Crossing Boundaries Concert Series Vol. 12: Celebrating Ostad Shajarian
Nov 8 – Nov 16, 2020

ZERO GRASSES: Workshop & Concert by Vocalist/Multi-Instrumentalist/Composer Jen Shyu
Dec 13, 2019

Classical Avant-Punk Violin Duo String Noise Performs the Music of Ki Young Kim
Oct 25, 2019

Crossing Boundaries Vol. 9: Musicians Tomchess & Dan Kurfirst & CRS Sufi Dance Community Showcase
Sep 28, 2019

Crossing Boundaries Concert Series Vol. 8: MOLDING
Sep 13, 2019

Fly in Water: A Multimedia Concert by Pianist Hyo Jee Kang
Aug 9, 2019

Crossing Boundaries Concert 6: Sufi Music, Dance & Poetry
Jun 28, 2019

Crossing Boundaries Concert 5: Korean Traditional Music & Contemporary Art
May 31, 2019

Crossing Boundaries Concert Series Vol. 4: FOUR SYSTEMS
May 10, 2019

Crossing Boundaries Concert Series Vol. 3: 7 word chanting 靈山會相 & tea ceremony
Nov 9, 2018

Crossing Boundaries Concert Series: Yut Nori / 나비 Butterfly II Conceptual Transformation Improvisation (2018.9.14)
Sep 14, 2018

Crossing Boundaries Concert Series: Azalea — Music by Quiet Revolution (Ki Young & gamin)
Jul 27, 2018