ARTIST STATEMENT

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Hello and welcome. Thank you for visiting my site. Below are some of the things that currently interest me as an artist. 

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Voice Memos: Since the start of the pandemic, I have been fascinated by imperfect recordings of found sounds, “voice memos” that capture a mysterious fragment of one’s sonic life—the ambient din of a normal day, or the speaking voices of those they know and love. Some recent works in this style include It just moves (Sandra Binion, Alliance Française de Chicago, 2022), Household Sounds of Chicago (High Concept Labs, 2021), and ~waves~ (Chromic Duo, 2020).

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Race and Ethnicity: More recently, since 2022, I have been interested in synthesizing my racial identity as an Asian American, and more specifically, my ethnic roots in Taiwan, China and Ireland. I have written some new works that have woven my identity into it, like a revised version of Fairies (Missing Piece, 2018 rev. 2023), Mass (masso quartet, 2023), Geen Cheen's Cassettes (Sixto Franco, 2022), and the orient (2023). I hope to continue to build on this trend of looking inward for inspiration, translating my identities into musical ideas.

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The Natural World: Additionally, I have been drawn to the natural world for musical inspiration. I've been thinking a lot about how the breaking apart and decomposing of organic matter is beautiful in its own right, and how it is often at odds with what is required to preserve classical music instruments. Works that have allowed me to confront this fundamental dissonance are String quartet for (Comfort Station, 2022), diminishing 5ths (Missing Piece, 2022), and human v. nature (Cacie Miller and friends, 2023).

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J.S. Bach Cello Suites: Since 2020, I have been composing and performing of my own solo piano versions of the complete J.S. Bach Cello Suites. This project has brought me closer to the piano​, and has given me that refreshing "permission" to find sounds that are as tonal and pretty as possible.  -SA, 2023