MOCA PERFORMS - Weaving Clouds: Women in Creative Renewal

Door Opens at 2:45 pm | Performance Begins at 3:00 pm

In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Museum of Chinese in America honors the remarkable contributions of Asian and Asian American women composers to the musical landscape. Musicians Tessa Brinckman and Tiffany Wu will present Weaving Clouds: Women in Creative Renewal, a captivating concert that combines harp, flute, and gayageum in an intimate exploration of women’s generativity and rest. The performance incorporates found archival texts, poetry by NYC Asian women, and audience collaboration. The program features music by trailblazing Asian diasporic composers such as Chen Yi, Du Yun, Jennifer Jolley, and Yi-Ning Lo. Through this evocative repertoire, audiences are invited into a restorative space of memory, resistance, serenity, and renewal.

TESSA BRINCKMAN

Interdisciplinary flutist/composer Tessa Brinckman has been praised for her “chameleon-like gifts” and “virtuoso elegance” (Gramophone), "an adroit creator of sound worlds” (Fanfare). Originally from Aotearoa/New Zealand (now in NYC since 2022) she has co-created work that honors synesthesia, dialect, innate meter and collaboration, with numerous prominent musical artists around the world. Tessa co-directs the bi-coastal duo, Caballito Negro, commissioning ground-breaking work for flute and percussion. Two of her collaborative videos have won 22 film festival awards for music scoring, animation and experimental film. She released another critically acclaimed album, Take Wing, Roll Back (New Focus Recordings) in 2024.

TIFFANY WU

Taiwanese-American harpist and writer Tiffany Wu (she/her) is based in NYC and LA. She’s been privileged to perform at venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Museum of Modern Art for Amazon, the United Nations, and more. She has performed and recorded alongside notable musicians, including Kate Baldwin, Dick Griffin, and Vince Bell. As a writer, she has received the Robert Mayo Prize and a Pushcart Prize nomination, among others. In her spare time, she forgets her tea on the windowsill, enjoys Ghibli movies, and is a passably acceptable plant mom. Say hi at tiffanyhwu.com or @green.teaffany.

This concert is sponsored by the Music Performance Trust Fund, which provides free live music to the public in the United States and Canada.

Host or Publisher Museum of Chinese in America