Crossing Boundaries Concert Series Vol. 4: FOUR SYSTEMS

CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) presents Crossing Boundaries Concert Series Vol. 4:  Four Systems, curated by JunYi Chow. Four daring improvisers and acclaimed performers of traditional music from different cultures  — Chatori Shimizu (Shō, Japan), gamin (Piri and Saenghwang, Korea), JunYi Chow (Cello, Malaysia), and Yunzhuo Gan (Yangqin, China) — invite mayhem and unlock surprising congruities by improvising over four compositions inspired by their respective cultures, stitched together through an imaginative graphic notation using visual symbols of their own choosing.

This graphic notation will be projected behind the performers, so the audience can connect visually with the the music and imagine their own choices, allowing everyone within the space — composer, performer, and audience — to participate in the process of creating connection and meaning through play. A conversation with the artists will take place following the concert.

This is the first of eight concerts in the series during 2019 and will take place on May 10, 2019 at 8 pm at CRS.

Tickets are $25 in advance $30 at the door. Students and seniors with valid ID can purchase tickets for $20 at the door. Tickets are available online at crsny.org, by phone (212-677-8621), and at CRS.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Chatori Shimizu (b. 1990) is a Germany based composer, shō performer, and sound artist, who constructs his works for a wide range of mediums concerning the time identity in sound. Ranging from orchestral works to sound installations, all of his works engage in repetitive patterns of sound motifs, which aims for the slightest change in the pattern to act as an accent. As the First Prize Winner of the 2016 Malta International Composition Competition, Shimizu’s works have been performed and exhibited throughout Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the United States, by acclaimed ensembles and musicians such as Hidejiro Honjoh, Ensemble Multilatérale, Mayumi Miyata, mise-en, Mivos Quartet, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Sound Factory Orchestra, among others. Shimizu has been awarded fellowships from Columbia University School of the Arts, Institute of Medieval Japanese Studies, the Mitsubishi Foundation, Omi International Arts Center, Soundstreams, Toshiba Foundation, and Yaddo. His music scores are published from United Music & Media Publishing, Belgium. ​

As an active researcher in the compositional approaches of the shō, he has conducted numerous lectures and demonstrations regarding the notation and the extended techniques of Japanese instruments in universities worldwide, such as Baruch College, Cornell University, The Graduate Center at CUNY, Manhattan School of Music, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, National Gugak Center Korea, Tamagawa University, among others.

Shimizu was born in Osaka, Japan, and spent his formative years in Singapore. Upon receiving the Professional Diploma in Piano Performance with High Honors at age twelve, he studied computer music and composition with Shintaro Imai and Motoharu Kawashima at Kunitachi College of Music, Tokyo, graduating with the Arima Prize. He received his MFA from Columbia University, New York City, where he studied at the Computer Music Center with Brad Garton and Zosha Di Castri. Shimizu currently studies composition with Mark Andre and Franz Martin Olbrisch at Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden. He serves as Co-Artistic Director of Composers’ Collective Tesselat.

gamin is a traditional Korean musician, trained in jeongak — the classical music of the court —and sinawi — the collaborative improvisation that accompanies Korean shamanic ritual. One of the most celebrated piri and taepyeongso (Korean oboes), and saengwhang (mouth organ) performers in Korea, she now pursues many interdisciplinary projects in collaboration with international artists. From 2000 to 2010, she was a member of the Contemporary Gukak Orchestra at the National Gukak Center, the hub for training and preserving Korean traditional music. Currently, as a yisuja* of the Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 46 for piri and Daechita, she tries to preserve traditional music, and enhances the tradition as well. *yisuja is a title designated to someone who mastered a course study of intangible cultural assets of Korea. jeonsuja is a lower title.

Since leaving orchestral work behind nine years ago, gamin has taken these skills in unexpected directions. She teaches and performs regularly at a number of universities in the U.S. and Korea. She received a grant from the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in 2011 and has performed at Harvard, Northwestern, Dartmouth, etc. and in Paris, Strasbourg, Freibrug, and Karlsruhe. She has published a book on the piri, released three albums, and has been an artist-in-residence at the UPenn James Joo-Jin Kim Program in Korean Studies since 2012. She is “a true pioneer and innovator, leading these instruments in exciting new directions” — Ralph Samuelson (senior advisor of the Asian Cultural Council).

JunYi Chow is a Malaysia-born New York-based Composer, Multi-instrumentalist and Improviser. Chow’s composition has been lauded by the Financial Times for its “skilful contrasts in both volume and texture.” His thorough knowledge of skills and characteristics of both Chinese and Western instruments has made him a leading figure in merging music of East and West. His album “A Traveler’s Portrait” in collaboration with Seungmin Cha (South Korea) was nominated for a Global Music Award in 2018.

As an active researcher in the music for Chinese Orchestra, Chow’s The TENG Guide to the Chinese Orchestra (co-author with Samuel Wong and Chenwei Wang) serves as a one-stop guide for composers, scholars and enthusiasts alike.

Chow is currently the music conductor of New York Chinese Music Ensemble. As a pianist and cellist, Chow plays classical repertoire as well as free improvisations.

Yunzhuo Gan graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music in Composition and dulcimer major. She got her second Master of Music in Composition at Manhattan School of Music. Yunzhuo studied with Marjorie Merryman.

As a Chinese Dulcimer performer, she has performed throughout the world. Notably, she twice played for the former president of China at the Shanghai World Expo and Paralympic Games, and performed at the Cannes International Film Festival and Prague Spring Music Festival etc.

As a composer, she wrote the music and songs for the Chinese film “The Continuation of Love” which wins both “Second batch of key recommended film” and “5.12 Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial Tribute film” prize. She held a concert that was called “The Charm” in Carnegie Hall as a major composer and Dulcimer performer. Her works were presented in Merkin Hall, The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, National Sawdust and Brooklyn Center etc.

Yunzhuo has won prizes from the EACA International Composition Competition and the TMSK Lithuania National Composition Competition and “Confucius” National Composition Competition.

ABOUT CROSSING BOUNDARIES

Now in its second year, CROSSING BOUNDARIES is a performance series devoted to creating unforgettable live art experiences that dissolve boundaries between performers and audiences, traditional and new music, and the local and the global, bringing people together and promoting the awareness that we each possess a limitless creativity inside us. 

CRS has from its inception in 2004 attracted many people from abroad, and has become known for presenting healing, arts, and cultural programs from around the world and from Asia in particular. This season, which is supported by a grant from the LMCC, is curated by three outstanding artists of Asian descent:  gamin, Jen Shyu, and JunYi Chow. There is a long tradition of interdisciplinarity in Asian arts, where ritual practices have always involved elements of dance, theatre, improvised music, and storytelling, and this season will build on that tradition.

Learn about the 2019 Season Curators

View the 2019 Season Announcement

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 with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC. LMCC empowers artists by providing them with networks, resources, and support, to create vibrant, sustainable communities in Manhattan and beyond.