Announcement: 2023 Projects! <3
Happy holidays everyone! Greetings from Basel, Switzerland <3 The holiday magic here is stunning~ glittering Christmas Market lights with bottomless Glühwein, fondue, raclette, carolling choirs, busking accordion players, fluffy snow, my sweetest Swiss host family … and then, just 15 min bike struggle up the impossibly steep rolling hills are the peaceful and charming farmlands - all my relations <3!!! (Happy cows and horses and cabbages and carrots and etc. etc.)
Now, I’m thrilled to share some announcements about the coming year! I’ll be writing about each individual project soon in more detail, but here’s an overview:
1. Second Album: “我们Us (Live)”
New Album Release coming in January, 2023. This is a heartfelt project. I’ve been touring this program the past summer and am now sincerely humbled to share the live recordings as my second album. I’ll also be performing a mini album tour in Valencia, Paris, and Basel.
"Love, kindness, humility. A celebration of our shared humanity. Featuring compositions by Reena Esmail, Delong Wang, Larysa Kuzmenko, Fazil Say, and Martin Scherzinger."
“Our diverse musical cultures reveal our diverse humanity. Now more than ever, we need to wield the power of music to understand and connect with one another, to imagine a better future, and to find common hope. 我们“Us” celebrates heritages and stories from across China, India, Turkey, Ukraine, and Africa. There are moments of great sadness, tragedy, and pain, but equally, if not more, there is hope, empowerment, joy, and even … cuteness (!) Whether directly or indirectly, we each hold the power to create a brighter collective future. The more we open ourselves to each other’s backgrounds, the more sensitive we can be, the better we can respect the symbols, gestures, and how to being kind, generous, and sincere in our humble efforts to be together, to be - 我们(Wǒ-mén), “Us”.”
2. Duo Incarnadine: “Four Cities x2”
We haven’t announced this huge project yet, and for a while we couldn’t even believe it was real! But, a few months ago, my dear partner in crime, cellist Leah Plave and I found out we were successful (!?) in our Canada Arts Council Concept to Realization Grant, “Four Cities x2”.
This 8-month long projects allows us to travel to Turkey and China to conduct fieldwork research and then record, perform, and make a documentary film and album of Turkish composer Fazil Say’s “Four Cities” and a new commission by Chinese Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho. Ho’s new 4-movement work will be inspired by four cities in China: Lixian, Sanka, Hongkong, and Tibet.
Again, this is another deeply personal project because the first two cities are the hometowns of my parents. I have interviewed them about their childhood memories of the villages, and the stories and sentiments that have been revealed are already hauntingly moving in their longing and tenderness and nostalgia. Connecting to our roots, finding a sense of grounded-ness and belonging in our heritage and culture has been a long-time journey of mine, and I can’t wait to pay respects to these lands that raised my mom and dad.
Leah and I will give a teaser of Ho’s work on a mini-tour in February. Pending Covid restrictions and other travel safety concerns, we hope to travel to the 4x2 cities in July, record our album in September, and then give another full album tour.
3. Duo Perdendosi: “Homecoming”
Home, home, home. Home is the truth you carry within you. And what is that truth? What is that story? Your story?
I’ve said a million times, I can’t imagine a better, or any other possible human or non-human spirit to embark on this journey with. Maitreyi and I are in the midst of organizing our first North American tour with a project that not only tells our own families’ immigrant stories, but bears witness to and thus empower the stories of each stranger we cross paths with.
“Homecoming” explores music, food, and traditions of Asian American diaspora populations, strengthening bonds within each local community and fostering personal human connections in unconventional concert settings. More than just a concert, “Homecoming” is a deeply respectful, humble, kind, patient, tender storytelling circle, where we learn how to listen to each others’ stories, and discover how diaspora populations can find a sense of Homecoming through music and art.
Our tour will begin in April and take us through Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, New York, Washington D.C., and North Carolina. Dates and locations coming soon!
4. Windwood Music Festival: Season One
This is a whole other thing.
August, stuff is happening. <3 My heart can’t even.
Okay, that does it. Peace out.
Xoxo,
Skye.pianist
