mOthertongue: Lived Experience in Asian America (@Santa Clara U)
Schedule
Wed Dec 03 2025 at 12:00 pm to 01:00 pm
UTC-08:00Location
Recital Hall, Santa Clara University | Santa Clara, CA
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NEWLY COMMISSIONED SONG CYCLES FROM JUSTINE F. CHEN AND KAMALA SANKARAM, PLUS THE MUSICAL ORIENTALISM OF MAURICE RAVELImages of Asia have long sparked the European musical imagination. As described by European poets and composers, including Maurice Ravel, these images include exotic landscapes and fetishized female figures, stereotypes that remain even as the Asian diaspora has taken root and claimed citizenship all over the world.
With newly-commissioned song cycles by Asian American composers Justine F. Chen and Kamala Sankaram, this recital asserts Asian American lived experience from the perspective of those of us who live it. As contrasted with Ravel’s Asie, a prime example of European musical Orientalism, these new songs describe the joys, pains, contradictions, and pride we experience as Asians living in this land we call home.
Music@Noon Concert Series at Santa Clara University
ADMISSION FREE
Maurice Ravel: “Asie” from Scheherazade
Kamala Sankaram: The Goddess Gets Dressed* (text by Kamala Sankaram)
1. Tiffin
2. White-Haired Doll
3. The Goddess Gets Dressed
4. Sitamma
5. The Dot
6. Chess
Justine F. Chen: ALIGHT* (text by Ophelia Hu Kinney)
1. mOthertongue
2. what i mean when i say what i mean
3. This Yellow
4. Earth Dogged
* Co-commissioned by soprano Jennifer Lien & Cincinnati Song Initiative, with generous support from the Minnesota State Arts Board
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Where is it happening?
Recital Hall, Santa Clara University, 807 Franklin St, Santa Clara, CA 95050-4968, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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