composer, pianist, music educator
Me doing live readings during the world premiere of Liham in 2024 at New York. Photo: Sidney Boquiren. I stood up and faced the audience. The four physical books I brought at the sidelines now weighed heavily on me. My face couldn’t figure out whether it should give onlookers a scowl or a cold, hard [...]
(This is a long-delayed Part 2 of a series of updates. Click HERE to read Part 1.) The year 2023 was the most exciting time for me in many ways — exciting in that I totally didn't had the time to sit back and post updates! I intended to post this after the world premiere [...]
Putting such a title to this rather hefty update feels appropriate. As much as a huge surge of productivity washed over the past months, the next three months will leave me in a financial lull. The amount of investment we artists put in our work and practice can sometimes be unreasonable or nonsensical, but we [...]
The year 2022 is coming to a close, and I'm grateful that things are just happening. Period. There was a time years ago when I thought, "This is it. No opportunities lay ahead next year, no one else wants to work with me. I have nothing more to say. I'm done." I unofficially went into [...]
It always takes some time before I post updates about what's currently on right now. Things have been rather hectic since the past 9-10 months, and this is quite unprecedented in my composer life. I guess change is happening—I think of writer Eva Hoffman who, upon having culture shock over the Krakow she knew decades [...]
I am very privileged to write about two things among the latest updates in my work. First things first. It has been official—New Music Concerts launched its inaugural composer-in-residence program, and I feel very honoured to be their first composer resident for 2022. I am commissioned to write two works: one for a flute octet [...]
Photography: Prince Requino Since focusing on Grumpy Kitty Boy, I'm now navigating an entirely different world that requires building project timelines; doing more admin work for my artistic life; writing grants (since I'm now eligible to do so as a new Permanent Resident of Canada--maybe this should warrant a different blog entry sometime in the [...]
The past weeks had been a tough time for many of our communities. Since the outrage over George Floyd's unjust death, the Earth's rotation suddenly went fast like a blur. A massive call against racism and police brutality swept many places, and radical initiatives like defunding or even abolishing the police force now simmers within [...]
In collaboration with the Canadian Music Centre, clarinettist Martin Carpentier and accordionist Joseph Petric commissioned me to write a new 6-minute work—I named the piece Kinamulátan—for bass clarinet and accordion. I've never composed for accordion before, and so Joseph handed me some introductory material he wrote himself. Surpassing the initial confusion over the keyboard layouts (including [...]
Juro Kim Feliz 