Coming to BAM NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL 2022

World Premiere at UCLA Royce Hall

Created by Jennifer Koh and Davóne Tines

Composed by Ken Ueno

Directed by Alexander Gedeon

Video by Hana Kim

“The performance begins with Koh standing on stage silent, head down, not moving as behind her footage plays of Koh at 17 performing in the last round of the International Tchaikovsky Competition where she won the top medal. There is also footage of her Korean-born mother, Gertrude Soonja Lee Koh, who escaped from North Korea and experienced harsh treatment during the Korean war. In the film clip, she is apologizing to Jennifer for Jennifer being first generation in this country and her mother being an immigrant.

As Koh uses her violin to almost deconstruct its sound, using a bow whose long horsehairs fall freely from its tip, Tines takes the stage to vocalize. At first, they are each dressed as they might for a classical performance with Tines in Tails and Koh in a gown. Later, they will change into clothes that better reflect their interior lives (with Tines eventually appearing in what I can only describe as a Billy Porter style Men’s gown).”

Forbes, Tom Teicholz