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Sunday, September 19th
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@1pm
Stephanie Chou
Stephanie Chou – voice, alto saxophone
Kelly Lin – erhu, violin
TBD – piano
Ronen Itzik – drums
Stephanie Chou is a composer, saxophonist, and singer based in NYC. Her music combines classical and Chinese influences with jazz and pop harmonies and rhythms. She blends Eastern elements (erhu, Chinese folk songs) with Western jazz and pop to create an entirely original, unique, and arresting bi-lingual (English and Mandarin) musical world. Chou studied mathematics and music at Columbia University.
In 2011, she released “Prime Knot”, a jazz quintet CD featuring trumpeter Marcus Printup (Jazz at Lincoln Center). Her 2012 work “CforG” was commissioned/choreographed by former American Ballet Theatre principal ballerina Susan Jaffe.
Steph’s 2017 album “Asymptote” features fresh takes on Chinese classics including “Kangding Love Song”, “The Moon Represents My Heart”, a tongue twister about “Eating Grapes”, and a setting of one of LiBai’s most famous poems. “Asymptote” features jazz musicians Kenny Wollesen, David Binney, John Escreet, and Zack Lober, as well as viola/erhu virtuoso Andy Lin. The release concert was co-presented by China Institute at Joe’s Pub. She’s performed her music in Taipei, Beijing, throughout NYC at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, B.B. King’s, Miller Theater, and The Cutting Room, and in festivals in Italy, Vermont (Discover Jazz), Pennsylvania (Musikfest) and NY (Summer on Hudson, Harlem Festival of Arts). Her compositions have been placed on PBS’s ‘Roadtrip Nation’ and performed at Alice Tully Hall.
She’s a recipient of the 2016 JFund, a grant from the American Composers Forum, to write “Comfort Girl” — a musical exploration of the lives of Chinese ‘comfort women’ who were abducted into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during WWII. The jazz-opera is a tribute to these young women’s incandescent courage and indomitable spirit. “Comfort Girl” premiered at Joe’s Pub at the Public in 2019.
Steph was a finalist in the iSING! 2020 Composition Competition(China), and a 2021 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship finalist. She also received a 2021 New Works Exploration Grant from OPERA America, and a Creative Engagement grant from the LMCC to present new work.
She’s currently recording a studio album of “Comfort Girl” and other projects with engineer/mixer/producer Roy Hendrickson.
Stephanie has performed music from “Asymptote” at Lincoln Center, Discover Jazz Festival (VT), Musikfest (PA), and many festivals in NY: Summer on the Hudson, Sunset Jazz at Lyndhurst, Passport to Taiwan, and more.