Finally back home!

12 cities. 8 countries. 66 days.

What a journey this has been. I keep saying that, but… this summer in Europe - the amount of magic, the growth, the unexpected adventures, friendships, stories, experiences - I really shall treasure them dearly. Coming back now, of course I’ve missed Canada and Montreal and my incredible castle in the sky intensely, but I feel like there’s now this new perspective. Of what I want to do, could do. Of Europe. Of possibilities professional and personally. Moving to Europe, pursuing more crazy opportunities?

What a crazy summer it’s been. From Italy to Germany to Romania to Belgium. And a few more chapters left (Netherlands, France, Switzerland)! There have been so many unexpected adventures, beautiful friendships, deeply personal and moving experiences. And of course, so much incredible music. Never enough incredible music.

Here’s a brief recap. More in-depth reflections in the journaling section.

Just finished the first draft of the libretto for Labyrinth of Tears, and there is still so much work and learning to do from here, but I am also super super excited to get back to live performances! Several postponed and new opportunities lined up wonderfully for a packed summer tour in Europe! It’s been a while since my last adventures there, can’t wait to travel and explore the world again… <3

TAG Duo is back in town! Joined by cellist Zach Reff, the Trio will be showcasing a vibrant matchmaking concert exploring each possible instrument combination – violin/piano, cello/piano, violin/cello, and finally all three together the harmonious-discordant trio formation. The program will journey not only from East to West and back again, but traverse across the physical and spiritual realms. Starting with the Rachmaninoff’s lamenting Elegiaque Trio and Shostakovich’s haunting Cello Sonata, we are then taken to the virtuosic rhapsody of Ravel’s Tzigane. From there, we enter the mystical world of Japanese Gods and Spirits with Alice Ho’s Kagura Fantasy and Hisaishi/Chu’s Princess Mononoke.

Music of the last decade has steered towards the growing tendency across arts, media, and consumer culture to fuse the aesthetic of cuteness with themes of violence, sexuality, surrealism, and dreariness of everyday life. I will approach the genres of kawaii metal, lo-fi hip-hop, and classical music from two perspectives by investigating the common understanding of the ‘light’ side of cuteness and drawing out its disguised ‘dark’ counterpart that carries aggressive, passive-aggressive, and sexual undertones. My research will study examples of musical cuteness in works by kawaii metal singers Ladybeard and Poppy, lo-fi artists “Ambition” and “My lovely weapons”, as well as classical composers Mozart, Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev. I will identify signifiers of cuteness and apply methods of musical topic theory by associating these signifiers with different genres, styles, and cultural contexts to reveal their broader meanings in music. How is musical cuteness expressed and perceived? What motifs, signs, and figures are “cute”? How do different presentation settings from concert halls to underground bars and private bedrooms contribute to the two-sided power of “cuteness?” My research will investigate musical elements such as melody, rhythm, timbre, texture, form, and instrumentation as well as extra-musical elements such as narrative, intertextuality, visual cues, and social contexts to develop a multidimensional understanding of musical cuteness.

Really feels like we’re in a Studio Ghibli film~! <3

Great children’s books move young hearts, yes, but they also move the great common heart that beats in the chest of humanity by articulating in the language of children, which is the language of simplicity and absolute sincerity, the elemental truths of being: what it means to love, what it means to be mortal, what it means to live with our fragilities and our frissons. As such, children’s books are miniature works of philosophy, works of wonder and wonderment that bypass our ordinary resistances and our cerebral modes of understanding, entering the backdoor of consciousness with their soft, surefooted gait to remind us who and what we are.

-Brain Pickings