imUnsure: A Multi-Disciplinary Piano+ Performance on Young East Asian Women’s Silence, Resistance, and Sense of Belonging

imUnsure is an interdisciplinary piano+ performance curated and performed by pianist Jixue Yang, co-created with diasporic East Asian women musicians and artists. Blending piano, electronic soundscapes, and immersive visuals, the performance presents newly commissioned works that explore imposed identities (U) versus the inner self (i). Through themes of cultural displacement, intergenerational trauma, and the search for authentic self-expression amid societal expectations, the concert stage is transformed into a space for reflection, resistance, and storytelling. This project has been made possible with the support of the Manhattan School of Music, the International Foundation for Contemporary Music’s Cortona Sessions for New Music (fiscal sponsorship), and the Houston Arts Alliance’s Let Creativity Happen grant. It is presented in collaboration with THE BLANC Gallery, Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival, Montrose Project, and Houston Trinity Episcopal Church.

Program
TIAN QIN *GG Prelude
YA-LAN CHAN **Kintsugi
ANRUO CHENG *Reflections
    III. My Dear Absent Voice
HUIJUAN LING **A Darkness Ever So Soft
CHUJUN LI **Forgotten Maria
JEE WON KIM *막 / 幕 / veil
    I. Am I myself
    II. or just a shadow?
**: World premiere;  *: NYC premiere

Jixue Yang , Artistic Director, Curator, and pianist
Lulu Yueyi Wang, Visual Artist