Harrison Meyer, Harnwell College House
Harrison's proposal: For one week in the 2018 Spring Semester, I propose that Harnwell House collaborate with the Music Department to put on several hours of jazz and jazz/rock each night, played in the Rooftop Lounge. Penn Jazz would contribute combos throughout the week and would play an hour set as a big band at least once during the festival. Dr. Clayton’s jazz combos would also be invited to perform. Area big bands and combos from other institutions would be invited to attend as well.
Sunny Chang, Harrison College House
Sunny's proposal: I hope to create is a culminating concert at the end of the semester. There will be a theme for the concert, possibly by a composer, or by a time period. I want to collaborate with as many musicians as I can in the form of chamber music. The program will include my solo performance, as well as chamber music performances. I hope I can also collaborate with a different department, having a music piece analyzed through a different lens, such as from the view of cinema, literature, or even mathematics. This will also be a great way to integrate different areas from Penn through music. A program I intend for the concert would be on Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven. These composers, known as the “Three Bs,” referring to Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johannes Brahms, have influenced the classical music field in so many ways. I want to explore some of the pieces by them and perform their solo and chamber music pieces. And through the process, I will get to explore their similarities and differences, and how these composers have influenced each other. I want to also perform some familiar music to the audience from the Bach Cello Suites as well. And through chamber music, I want to form different perspectives on music and altogether bring the joy of music to the audience.
Sai-Hyun Genie Kim, Hill College House
Sai-Hyun's proposal: Cultural hybridity is a new value greatly emphasized in the 21st century that summarizes the Penn community. Each individual in the Penn community brings in his or her own rich, unique cultures of their religion, race, region, and country to compose a culturally diverse environment. Internally, everyone’s identity is characterized by cultural hybridity and externally the community as a whole is marked by cultural diversity. I would like to have a series of performances that reflects one of the most crucial aspects of the Penn community by performing ethnic music and fusion music through my Korean traditional instrument, Gayageum. The gayageum that I brought from Korea is a harp-like instrument that is a slightly modified version of the traditional instrument. Therefore, on this instrument, I am able to perform music that was composed using the Western melodic scale and employ traditional techniques while I perform various genres of music. My performances would not only introduce the Penn Community to Korean traditional music, but also allow people to enjoy the wonderful collaboration of the East and the West through fusion music.