Dana Lyn • Alicia Waller + The Excursion • Sugar Vendil
Presented in partnership with American Composers Forum
My program will feature a screening of a short experimental film, May We Know Our Own Strength and my piece ooh wo aa oo wa o for vocalizing chamber ensemble. And maybe a new work for solo piano, voice, and electronics from my forthcoming album, Late Bloomer.
About my program
photo credit: julia comita
Short film: “May We Know Our Own Strength”
“May We Know Our Own Strength” is a short film by Jih-E Peng based on Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya’s installation of the same name. Sugar Vendil's score, featuring her own voice, electronics, piano, and violinist Hajnal Pivnick, recalls feelings of horror and pain, the act of healing through ritual, and collective mourning and strength.
“May We Know Our Own Strength is an abstract, hybrid narrative document centered around artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya’s similarly-titled piece exploring collective healing after sexual assault within AAPI communities, created tragically in the wake of the Atlanta spa shootings. In the spirit of the installation itself, ‘May We Know Our Own Strength’ recreates the process of trauma, the hurdles of healing, and the strength that can be found in sharing and community.”
For the installation, Phingbodhipakkiya weaved hanging paper sculptures of anonymous stories by NYC survivors of sexual assault and gender-based violence. All New Yorkers were invited to lay down their burdens anonymously at MayWeKnow.nyc. Each submission immediately activated one of sixteen internet-connected printers and lit a corresponding incandescent bulb, visible from a storefront window in the Meatpacking District at 401 W. 14th Street. During the course of the installation, Amanda held a vigil and 8-minute moment of silence at 8pm every evening as a memorial to the eight Atlanta shooting victims, as their names printed and all 16 incandescent bulbs of the installation shone resolutely into the night.
“ooh wo aa oo wa o” by sugar vendil for vocalizing chamber ensemble
Vendil will perform her work for vocalizing chamber ensemble “ooh wo ah oo wa o” with her ensemble, The Nouveau Classical Project (NCP). NCP will wear costumes created for “ooh wo ah oo wa o” by Jasmine Chong. Chong weaves rich and personal stories through a canvas of colour, silhouette, texture and form, producing pieces that are sculptural, romantic and meaningful. She was featured on Season 1 of Amazon’s “Making the Cut.”
“ooh wo ah oo wa o” reflects on the painful but necessary act of surrender through fluttering textures, glitches, and vocalizations. It was composed as Vendil decided to wind down NCP, the ensemble she founded in 2008, followed by having to make the heartbreaking decision to put her dear cat Coco to sleep. The work is dedicated to Coco.
It is scored for a vocalizing ensemble of flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano. “ooh wo ah oo wa o” has been made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.