NEW YORK, October 1, 2016 — The performance artists Susie Ibarra, Samita Sinha, and Jen Shyu present musical performances that explore their creative encounters, and then discuss how explorations of identity, gender, and the Asian American experience can lead to new aesthetics. Asia Society Director of Global Performing Arts and Special Cultural Initiatives Rachel Cooper moderates the discussion. (1 hr., 54 min.)

Three boundary-crossing performing artists explore their creative encounters with different musical and cultural expressions. Each artist will present a twenty-minute musical performance, then engage in a discussion about how explorations—of identity, gender, and the Asian American experience—can lead to new aesthetics.

About the Artists:

Susie Ibarra is known for her innovative style and cultural dialogue as a composer, improviser, percussionist and humanitarian. She is interested in the intersection of tradition and avant-garde and how this informs and inspires interdisciplinary art, education and public service. Ibarra creates live and immersive music that explores rhythm, Indigenous practices, and interaction with the natural world. Ibarra is a Yamaha, Vic Firth and Paiste Drum Artist. She is a 2014 TEDSenior Fellow and a Faculty member at Bennington College. She teaches Percussion, Performance and at the Center for Advancement in Public Action with focused advocacy on Human Rights extended equally to women and girls and Rebuilding Cities with the Arts.

Samita Sinha is a vocal artist and composer working at the intersection of music, sound, and performance. Her solo work Cipher appeared at The Kitchen, Wexner Center for the Arts, Portland Institute of Contemporary Arts, REDCAT, and Virginia Tech, and her trio work bewilderment and other queer lions was co-commissioned by Performance Space 122 and Invisible Dog Art Center. Sinha has composed and performed for several choreographers and directors including Dean Moss (Petra, upcoming), Fiona Templeton (The Medead), Preeti Vasudevan (Veiled Moon), and Daria Fain & Robert Kocik (vocal direction for E-V- E-R- Y-O- N-E). As a vocalist/performer she has toured internationally with Sekou Sundiata, performed with Robert Ashley, and currently performs regularly with Tongues in Trees, a “uniquely-aligned trio” with Sunny Jain and Grey Mcmurray.

Jen Shyu is an experimental jazz vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, producer, Fulbright scholar and 2016 Doris Duke Artist. Shyu is a Stanford University graduate in opera with classical violin and ballet training. She has studied traditional music and dance in Cuba, Taiwan, Brazil, China, South Korea, East Timor, and Indonesia, conducting extensive research which culminated into Solo Rites: Seven Breaths, directed by renowned Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho. Shyu has won commissions and support from the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards (2016 Doris Duke Artist Award and 2014 Doris Duke Impact Award), MAP Fund, Jerome Foundation, Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works, New Music USA, Jazz Gallery, and Roulette, as well as fellowships from Asian Cultural Council, Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Korean Ministry of Sports, Culture, and Tourism.

Major support for Performing Arts at the Asia Society is provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Helen and Will Little, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Watch a video of Samita Sinha:

Cipher reel from Samita Sinha on Vimeo.

Watch a video of Jen Shyu:

Watch a video of Susie Ibarra: