Yenju

School of Music – MFA2 – Performer-Composer

Collaborators: Nikki Ochoa, Meng Hang Shih, Matt LeVeque, Victor Sintchak, Emilia Moscoso Borja, Sebastian Nassar, Mason Moy

“執子之手, 與子偕老” means “To death do us part” in English. This phrase is highly considered as blessing for married couples. However, it’s likely to be a curse for married woman who are abused. In Asia, marital culture has been highly affected by the patriarchy, expecting women being a “perfect” wife – giving birth to babies, obeying their husband. These outdated expectations still exist in nowadays, leading to many extremely wicked crimes. In 2021, a young women in China was found abducted and forced to marry a stranger to make babies.A woman was beaten to death by villager because she was accused of betraying her marriage in Afghanistan. To present this concept, musicians will perform my original composition with the set up of crotales, glockenspiel, vibraphones, marimbas and chimes. In the meanwhile, several actors will dress up in various traditional wedding costumes from Asia(China, India, Japan, Middle East, etc), reciting poems and acting along side with the live music performance.