To those who do not know freedom,
the free world is acage.
You will be met with coldscorn,
and a naive voice will speak for them,
"You're grown and freed now, look at all the resources,
whycan'tyou do better?
whydon’tyou try harder?"
Even caged animals,tamedandconfined,
will earn their understanding far more easily than you.
When you prepare to act,
when you fight,
when you raise your voice to defend your truth,
they already have their earsclosed.
Then you realize:
thesebarrierswerenevermeant to be crossed.
They exist because you wereneverexpected
to speak.
You are—no, you were meant to be—
the "her" they imagined:
from East Asia,
with blood trained toobey,
hair assmoothandstraightascompliance,
eyes wide with perpetualfear.
You want to be discussed,
but youdon’t.
You want to tell them what you think,
but youcan’t.
Your work is your strength,
but you darenotreveal its full purpose.
You want to be seen not as alabel,
but as a human,
brimming with talent and thought,
Extraordinary.Haven’twe tried thistoo manytimes?
It’s aparadox;
but I still choose to become a drop in the ocean.
background
Navigating the contemporary music world as a classically trained East Asian musician often comes with isolation, self-doubt, and cultural barriers. Many of us struggle to seek guidance, shaped by an upbringing that values discipline, obedience, and quiet perseverance over self-advocacy. Traditional East Asian education discourages questioning authority and promotes rigid structures of success, leaving many artists unprepared for the open-ended, network-driven nature of the Western music industry. Without established mentorship or an intuitive grasp of these unspoken rules, uncertainty can feel overwhelming, making it difficult to claim space in a field where expectations remain implicit. imUnsure was born from this shared experience—a space to amplify the voices of East Asian women who feel unheard, unworthy, or lost in a new cultural landscape. By embracing our complexities and celebrating our identities through music, we reclaim our artistry with confidence and agency.
This performance is a response to these experiences, channeling the complex emotions of struggle and hope in a new environment. The commissioned pieces draw from personal narratives—challenges of communication within immigrant families, the pressures of societal beauty standards, and the tension between traditional values and new cultural landscapes. While the work is deeply personal, it also mirrors the collective experiences of East Asian women in the diaspora, particularly recent immigrants, whose perspectives remain underrepresented.
Since the 19th century, East Asian women in America have been confined to stereotypes of domesticity or hypersexualization. While visibility has increased, integration remains hindered by patriarchal values ingrained through upbringing—obedience and self-restraint framed as feminine virtues. Younger generations navigating cultural clashes often employ cautious adaptation strategies, but these nuanced negotiations are frequently misinterpreted as passive conformity, reinforcing historical stereotypes. Trapped between patriarchal expectations and Western misconceptions, East Asian women face systemic pressures in their pursuit of belonging.
vision
imUnsure collaborates with organizations, schools, and community spaces to nurture artistic solidarity, empower artists, and amplify the talent and diversity of East Asian women creators. Through a planned performance series and experimental collaborations, we showcase their work while fostering creative exchange.
To ensure visibility and impact, our initiatives are promoted through social media, press partnerships, and strategic outreach. We are actively seeking sponsorship to expand these efforts and sustain long-term engagement.
Central to our mission is illuminating the hybrid cultural identities of East Asian female immigrants navigating dual societal frameworks. By co-creating narrative platforms with these artists, we aim to bridge cultural divides, document underrepresented struggles, and inform inclusive community-building practices.
Through sound, notation experiments, and interdisciplinary collaboration, imUnsure transforms vulnerability into agency—not as a concert, but as an exploration of identity, displacement, and self-acceptance.
who are U？你 是 她吗？
support imUnsure
If you’d like to support imUnsure in reaching more places, fund this project, or share a collaboration idea, please reach out. Your involvement helps bring these unheard stories to light.
每一份关注与帮助，都是对东亚女性艺术家声音的珍视与肯定。如果您愿意支持imUnsure走向更多音乐厅，或为这个项目提供资助与合作想法，请随时与我联系。您的参与，将让这些未被听见的故事被更多人看见、听见。
Curated and performed by pianist Jixue Yang, imUnsure is an interdisciplinary piano+ performance that blends acoustic sounds, electronic soundscapes, and immersive visuals.
The program features newly commissioned works by diasporic East Asian women composers and interdisciplinary artists, exploring 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.
当我被注视时，他们的眼睛试图只停留在他们想去的地方。没有聚焦，没有涣散，像一个被设计成不能被我学习的系统，让我羞愧。我身上的毛孔摊开了，它们不打算再为我的生理反应做辩解。
Rooted in the shared struggles of East Asian women navigating Western artistic spaces, imUnsure transforms vulnerability into agency, amplifying voices often unheard. By embracing complexity and self-discovery, it offers a deeply personal yet collective exploration of cultural hybridity and empowerment.
“可你手握流沙。” “每个人都是社会产品。不论你以为你是什么样的，你都没有自我。” “放弃吧。你甚至不敢说你的答案。你只会小声嘟囔着说你不确定。你确定极了。你几乎确定你是他们说的她，而且你很努力地理解过如何变成那样的她，
…但你不大想。”
people, P ROG RA M and the N o t e s
Tian Qin **GG Prelude
“This is a very narrative piece. It takes on various tones of mine when I try to communicate with my memories. Specifically, the memories where I set standards for myself based on other people’s values. The standards often related to whether or not I was a good girl, as if they had all been there before, as if they invented the ruler. I was left wondering — they were once a girl, too. Just like me.
I tried to hold my memories closer with both hands to get a better look at them, but they were like liquid that I couldn’t hold in my palm.
GG stands for “Good Girl”. People say “good girl” when they appreciate their female dog. Am I just a dog of yours?“
Chinese composer Tian Qin is known for her music’s compelling, humorous, and visually evocative qualities. She enjoys integrating text, craft, film, and choreography into her compositions, often pushing the boundaries of traditional forms while incorporating her cultural heritage, and focuses on engaging communal experiences.
Her music has been workshopped or performed by many ensembles, such as the Windscape Ensemble, Unheard-of Ensemble, the Rhythm Method, Duo Impetuoso, Loadbang, Kenetic, Musiqa, Loop 38, and Roomful of Teeth. She is also the 2024 American Guild of Organists Student Commissioning Project winner. Additionally, she is a teaching artist at MusiqaLab at Madison High School, American Festival for the Arts, and a music theory instructor at Opus One Chamber Music School. She is also an active member of Gamelan of the New Moon and a raga student of Ragavan Manian.
Tian Qin graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music (BM), and Rice University (MM, Brown Fellowship). She studied composition with Ying Din, Marjorie Merryman, Karim Al-Zand, Shi-hui Chen, and Pierre Jalbert, and piano with Xiangjun Yu and Jiayin Li.
Ya-Lan Chan **Kintsugi
“This piece draws inspiration from the tranquil energy of meditation, incorporating the rhythmic recitation of mantras as an integral part of the musical texture. The chanting becomes a thread, weaving through the composition to create a contemplative soundscape. Metaphorically, the music constructs a “safety net” — a space where listeners are invited to partake in a journey of introspection and reconciliation. Through its immersive atmosphere, the piece encourages an active search for inner harmony and connection.“
Taiwanese composer Ya-Lan Chan committed to the collaborative nature of music-making, emphasizing the use of musical gestures to craft nuanced, transparent soundscapes. She is interested in exploring the relationship between technology and humans, and how these two shape each other. Recently awarded the 2025 Nief-Norf Festival International Call for Scores Winner and several other distinctions include the winner of 2024 INMF New Voices Competition, 2022 Manhattan Prize for String Quartet and as finalist in the Mivos Kanter String Quartet Composition Prize. She received commissions from the Percussion Ensemble at the Manhattan School of Music, New Chamber Ballet, Project 23.6 N, and grants from the National Culture and Arts Foundation from Taiwan. Her work is published by Babel Scores.
Huijuan Ling **A Darkness Ever So Soft
“The commissioned work explores the generational trauma between Asian parents and their children, in which both parties love and care for each other, yet their communication is strained due to their inability to understand each other.“
Composer Huijuan Ling likes to draw her inspiration outside the boundaries of the wobbly concept of Western art music and enjoys the process of discovering and negotiating a sound world that feels authentic both to her and her collaborators. Her music has been performed by ensembles such as the Utari Duo, Cracow Golden Quintet, Ciompi Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Imani Winds, JACK Quartet, Line Upon Line Percussion, Patchwork Duo, and others. Huijuan holds degrees in composition from Shanghai Conservatory of Music (BM), University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (MM), and Duke University (Ph.D.).
Chujun Li **Forgotten Maria
“I have forgotten the suffering in my mother’s life, the suffering of which I was both the sole witness and the cause; meanwhile, she has forgotten my suffering, when she was both the sole witness and the cause.”
Chujun is a composer who explores her connection with her Chinese roots through both her curiosity about timber and her engagement with political issues. Her recent work “诗Two二Po首ems” explores the sonic relationship between Chinese and English while including texts that reflect on Chinese political issues during Shanghai’s COVID lockdown. In another work “失语The Loss of a Poem”, she extends her exploration in the Chinese sonic world with the help of audio analysis tools and builds a close connection between flute sounds (modified by electronics) and Chinese sounds. Chujun Li is currently pursuing a doctorate degree at Boston University, where she is studying with Richard Cornell. She has worked in commission and workshop settings with ensembles such as Unheard-of// Ensemble, Sound Icon Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, Byrne:Kozar:Duo, and collaborated with individual musicians such as Anna Piroli, Tyler Neidermayer, Rose Kow, Adeline DeBella, and Grace Helmke.
Jee Won Kim **막 / 幕 / veil
I. Am I myself
II. or just a shadow?
“I sometimes felt lonely; it seemed like nobody heard my voice. So near the touch, yet never meeting. Am I myself, or just a shadow?“
Jee Won Kim is a composer based in the US and South Korea. Her music explores the relationship between time, space, and perception and is strongly inspired by fine art and literature. Her music has been performed by ensembles and artists including Festino Chamber Choir, International Contemporary Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, Unheard-of//Ensemble, Studio Dan, John Popham, Matti Pulkki, Ben Roidl-Ward, Alberto Menjón, Clara Cho, and Jixue Yang.
Her electronic music was featured in ICMC 2024 and SEAMUS 2021. She is a resident composer for Callis Ensemble based in NYC, and recently co-founded a Korean Women Composers’ group, 이내 ENAE.
Jee Won holds a BM from Chung-Ang University and an MM from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Reiko Füting. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying with Aaron Travers and David Dzubay.
Shasha Chen *Chain of Evidence
This work responds to a traumatic incident experienced by the pianist, who requested a piece to process and express it. As an East Asian female musician and immigrant, after years of constant scrutiny, pressure, harassment, and unjust power dynamics within the music industry—marginalization, discrimination, and verbal violence—she suffered respiratory alkalosis during a performance.
The performance approaches a near-recreation of the original experience. Every musical phrase length in this work is determined by and synchronized with the performer’s own breath. The music becomes a corporeal space, where each note, each emotion, and every bodily reaction carries the imprint in the chain of her lived pain, struggle, and resistance. Time stretches and collapses with each breath, immersing the audience in a shared experience of her enactment of memory—as we breathe within the same social fabric, we have always been part of this chain of evidence.
Shasha Chen is a composer, performer, and multimedia artist whose work merges composition, performance, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Operating within the framework of conceptual (new) music theater, her practice addresses socio-political topics such as identity, gender, power dynamics, patriarchy, social injustice, immigration, and violence.
She is a 2026 DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Fellow, the recipient of the 2025 International Hanns Eisler Scholarship of the City of Leipzig, and a SANE project residency artist hosted by Hellerau and Echo Factory. Chen was awarded the 2024 Presser Music Award and a fellowship at Art Omi Residency.
Her music and performance works have been presented at international festivals and institutions including Wiener Festwochen, TIME:SPANS Festival, MaerzMusik Festival, Forecast Forum, Phoenix Satellite, Hamburg International Music Festival, SENS Festival, impuls Festival, and Linecheck Music Meeting and Festival. Her artworks have also been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide.
In this collaborative project with musicians and composers, Wang explores the synthesis between sound and image, developing visual narratives for two commissioned pieces: one fostering contemplative immersion, the other navigating the intergenerational trauma within Asian families.
Lulu Yueyi Wang is a multidisciplinary artist born in Shanghai and based in New York. She works with painting, projection mapping and sculpture to create evolving spaces that evoke intense emotions like ecstasy, doom, and transcendence. These works explore themes of constraint and liberation drawn from her autobiographical experiences.
She is currently pursuing a BA in Visual Arts and Computer Science at Columbia College, Columbia University, expected 2026. Her work has been exhibited in Shanghai, China; Nantes, France; and across Massachusetts and New York. She is the recipient of the Barnard Viz Wall Art and Futurism Competition Award, has been featured at ICME.
Performances
- Monday, September 22 7:30 pm @ Ades Performance Space, New York
- Friday, October 17, 7pm @ Trinity Episcopal Church, Houston
- Thursday, October 23, 3 pm @ Indiana State University, Terre Haute
- Friday, December 5, 7 pm @ THE BLANC, New York
This project has been made possible through the generous support of MSM, 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.
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Jixue Yang ｜ 杨继学 