Min Xiao Fen & Julian Kytasty: Boundless

Join us for Boundless, a groundbreaking collaboration between two visionary artists: Chinese pipa soloist and composer Min Xiao-Fen and Ukrainian bandurist and composer Julian Kytasty. Both classically trained and shaped by their work with avant-garde icon Derek Bailey, Min and Kytasty bridge centuries-old traditions with bold contemporary expression.

Min's work, "Xi Xi, Cuo Cuo (Wash and Rub)," draws inspiration from the overlooked history of Chinese immigrants in the Mississippi Delta. In the segregated South, they ran grocery stores and laundries that served both Black and white communities, and Min's music reflects how they quietly bridged a divided world.

Kytasty's "Travel Music" features a rare bandura with a remarkable past. It was crafted by Iosyp Shizhny, a pioneering performer who fled the USSR via Manchuria and settled in Shanghai before escaping China in 1948 and bringing the instrument to Buenos Aires. Julian discovered it in 1987, brought it to New York, and it's still going strong today.

For Min, the performance also echoes a poignant memory: performing in Kyiv in 1988 as part of a Chinese cultural exchange. Through this music, the two artists continue that spirit of connection, and send a prayer for peace in Ukraine and around the world.

Boundless is more than a title. It's a journey across time, borders, and imagination. Don't miss this unforgettable evening of fearless collaboration and transcendent sound.

Performers:
Min Xiao-Fen – pipa, sanxian, ruan, sound effects and voice
Julian Kytasty: – bandura and voice

Doors open at 7:00 PM | Concert begins at 7:30 PM

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About Min Xiao-Fen Few artists have done more to both honor and reinvent the 2,000 year history of the pipa than soloist, vocalist, and composer Min Xiao-Fen. Classically trained in her native China, she served as a principal pipa soloist at Nanjing Traditional Music Orchestra and was an in-demand interpreter of traditional music before relocating to the United States and forging a new path for her instrument alongside many of the leading lights in modern jazz, free improvisation, experimental, and contemporary classical music. NPR Weekend Edition lauded Min as one of the world's greatest virtuosos, and JazzTimes hailed her as a pioneer in integrating her ancient instrument with modern jazz and improvised music.

In 2023, Min received a commission from the Smithsonian Institution to compose new original soundtracks for two historical Chinese silent films from the 1920s, Romance of the Fruit Peddler and Romance of the Western Chamber, which premiered with Middle Eastern percussionist River Guerguerian at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The scores were recorded for her album Metta, which released and was performed alongside the films at the Big Ears Festival and Leaf Festival in 2024. GRAMMY U selected Min as a mentor for 2023 to 2025. Her other notable works include the 2021 album White Lotus, her original score to the 1934 silent film The Goddess, and the deeply personal 2017 release Mao, Monk and Me, which explores the music of Thelonious Monk. Learn more at minbluepipa.com.

About Julian Kytasty Julian Kytasty was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a family of Ukrainian refugees who came to the United States after World War II. A third generation bandurist, he first learned the instrument from his father and grandfather. In 1980 he moved to New York to become the artistic director of the New York School of Bandura, and since then his multifaceted work as a performer, recording artist, composer, teacher, and ensemble leader has redefined the possibilities of his instrument.

Kytasty's discography ranges from the ancient tradition of Ukraine's blind epic singers, heard on Songs of Truth, released this year on Smithsonian Folkways, to ventures into free improvisation, world music collaborations, electroacoustic projects, and his own solo instrumental music. Since 1998, he has worked in experimental theater with New York's Yara Arts Group, contributing as composer, musical performer, and actor to productions including Scythian Stones, Capt. John Smith Goes to Ukraine, and 1917-2017, which won Innovative Theater Awards for Best Original Score and Best Musical. He has also created film music and scores for contemporary puppet theater and dance.

Kytasty first toured Ukraine in 1989 and 1990, performing over 100 concerts as a soloist and with a bandura trio, bringing bandura compositions and playing styles preserved by bandurists in the United States back to a country where they had once been unknown or suppressed. He has traveled to Ukraine many times since independence, performing across the country as a soloist, in Yara theater projects, and in collaborations with Ukrainian artists. In September 2021, President Zelensky awarded Julian Kytasty the title Honored Artist of Ukraine in a ceremony in New York City.

Don't miss this rare opportunity to experience two masters of their traditions in conversation.