Harmonic Series: The Poet Speaks
In association with the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI)

Date: Thursday 5 March 2020, 7pm
First Congregational Church of Berkeley
2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
California, US

Join pianist Annie Yim and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute for a free, public concert in downtown Berkeley featuring the recorded voices of composers and poets with live piano, juxtaposing poems from two centuries with musical responses. From John Cage to Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass, each work is no more than a few minutes long, and yet contains a microcosm of the composer’s unique stamp, carrying far more than meets the eyes and ears. The hope is to create meaningful dialogues within the pairing of poetry and music.

The Poet Speaks: From Debussy to Pärt
In association with Music on Main

Date: Tuesday 10 March 2020, 7:30pm
Fox Cabaret
2321 Main Street, Vancouver
Canada

Pianist Annie Yim’s MusicArt project, The Poet Speaks: From Debussy to Pärt for solo piano and recorded voices, combines pairings of musical composition and poetry in a concert of cross-art collaborations revealing tributes, friendships, and artistic affinities. Featured contemporary composers include Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, and Cheryl Frances-Hoad.

Conceptual Concert in Three Acts
in collaboration with Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac to coincide with an exhibition of Robert Rauschenberg’s Spreads 1975-1983 and John Cage’s Ryoanji

Date: Thursday 13th December 2018, 6.30pm
Venue: Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac,
37 Dover Street, W1S 4NJ, London

Inspired by Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage,
MusicArt presents a World Premiere
Concert-Installation by Pianist Annie Yim
With Poet Kayo Chingonyi & Composer Raymond Yiu
Featuring Piano & Spoken-Word Performance of Cage’s
The Seasons, Winter Music, and 4’33”

To coincide with the exhibition Robert Rauschenberg: Spreads 1975-1983, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac and MusicArt present the world premiere of a musical performance inspired by Robert Rauschenberg’s collaborations with the pioneering avant-garde American composer John Cage. Co-created and performed by pianist Annie Yim with poet Kayo Chingonyi and composer Raymond Yiu, this Conceptual Concert in Three Acts is framed by the piano music of Cage, including The Seasons, 1947 and Winter Music, 1957, alongside an installation of sound and spoken dialogue. The final act of this cross-disciplinary concert is a staging of Cage’s iconic piece, 4’33”, 1952. The performance multiplies artistic roles and dissolves boundaries in homage to Cage and Rauschenberg, and beyond their artworks on view at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac London, the words of Cage and Rauschenberg too have inspired this concert-installation.

The Poet Speaks: from Debussy to Pärt
a performing installation with recorded voices

16 March 2018, Friday, 1pm

Annie Yim, piano

MusicArt London’s seventh Conceptual Concert combines the recorded voices of composers and writers with live piano, juxtaposing poems from two centuries with musical responses to them by Debussy, Ravel, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, and Philip Glass. Für Alina by Arvo Pärt will be performed alongside a newly commissioned poem by the acclaimed Zaffar Kunial whose collection Us will be published by Faber in 2018. Cage's 4′33″ will be performed in a new version incorporating Ed Baker’s poem A Kind of Silence. Each pairing of musical composition and poem reveals tributes, friendships, and artistic affinities.

Writing About Contemporary Artists

Saturday 21 October | 5.30pm

University of Surrey, UK

MusicArt London will present a keynote concert and dialogue at an international, multi-disciplinary, three-day conference hosted by the University of Surrey: 'Writing About Contemporary Artists: Challenges, Practices and Complexities'. Annie Yim, founder of MusicArt London, will explore in-depth her ongoing collaboration with renowned artist Christopher Le Brun (President of The Royal Academy of Arts), in conversation with chair of the conference, Christopher Wiley. She will perform the specially commissioned work by Richard Birchall (2015) as well as piano music by Scriabin, Rachmaninov, Berg, and Debussy.Event is free and open to public. For information about the event please click here www.surrey.ac.uk

MusicArt London | Berlin: Concert & Conversation

29 April 2017, Saturday, 6pm

Arndt Art Agency, Berlin

In collaboration with artist Christopher Le Brun’s upcoming solo exhibition Now Turn The Page at the gallery of Arndt Art Agency in Berlin, pianist Annie Yim, founder of MusicArt London, will perform a curated concert surrounded by Le Brun's new paintings. The concert is accompanied by a conversation between the artist and the pianist to consider the many points of rich imaginative contact between musical and painterly composition.

This concert presents works by composers who have inspired Le Brun: Scriabin, Schoenberg, Rachmaninov, and Debussy, and includes a recently commissioned composition by Richard Birchall based on a painting by

Le Brun. Event coincides with Gallery Weekend Berlin.

More information about the exhibition and concert here.

Scenes from Daphnis and Chloe

9 March 2017

Minerva Piano Trio: Annie Yim, piano, Michal Cwizewicz, violin,
Richard Birchall, cello,(St. John’s Smith Square Young Artists in Residence 2016/17)
David Knotts (composer), Patricia Okenwa (choreographer)
Thomasin Gülgeç (dancer), Estela Merlos (dancer)

Music, dance, art, and poetry are inextricably linked in MusicArt London’s new adaptation of Daphnis and Chloe – originally produced by the Ballets Russes – with music by Ravel. Transcribed by acclaimed British composer David Knotts for piano, violin, and cello, the new score will be set to newly commissioned dance choreography by Patricia Okenwa for the concert stage. Inspired by the eponymous Greek pastoral legend by Longus in 2nd century AD, Ravel saw the work as ‘a vast musical fresco…with faithfulness to the Greece of my dreams’. The new transcription with dance evokes the poetic essence of the story – itself a reimagination by the author of a large cave painting on the Greek island Lesbos – which is based on Ravel’s own selected scenes extracted for his orchestral suites.

In association with the Minerva Piano Trio – St. John’s Smith Square Young Artists in Residence 2016/17

John Cage the lover and poet

Friday 25 November 2016
Time: Between 12 – 2 (every half hour; last performance at 1.30pm)
Venue: Ordovas Gallery, 25 Savile Row, London, W1S 2ER

Annie Yim, pianist, Ed Baker, poet

MusicArt London collaborates with Ordovas as part of the gallery’s acclaimed exhibition Artists and Lovers (Critic’s Choice in the Financial Times), staging performances of early piano works by American composer John Cage (1912–1992) plus a specially commissioned poem.

This Conceptual Concert frames Cage’s iconic silent piece 4’33” with the lesser known side of his art and life – the dreamy poet and tender lover both in verse and at the piano, as revealed in his early personal letters and in the pieces In a Landscape and Dream. The new poem in response to 4’33” is inspired by reminiscences of poet Ed Baker’s first meeting with Cage at the composer’s 60th birthday party in Washington DC. The exhibition showcases works by an intimate circle of artists at the Black Mountain College – John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns. The exhibition runs until 16 December 2016

A Musical Exploration with Christopher Le Brun

22 October 2015

Inspired by Christopher Le Brun, President of the Royal Academy of Arts,

and his recent interview on BBC Radio’s Private Passions, pianist Annie Yim explores the musicality of the artist's works at his upcoming exhibition within the gallery of Katrin Bellinger at Colnaghi. The piano recital

on 22nd October 2015 features specially selected works from late romanticism and impressionism, and the world premiere of a work by British composer Richard Birchall, which is dedicated to this exhibition.

In association with Katrin Bellinger at Colnaghi
With thanks to J.Reid Pianos for sponsorship of the piano
More information about exhibition at Colnaghi
Christopher Le Brun www.christopherlebrun.co.uk

The legends of Robert Schumann:

A Piano Recital and Book Art Installation

6 November 2015

Pauline Rafal (book artist), Charlotte Bray (composer), Annie Yim (pianist)

Reimagining scenes from childhood in Robert Schumann’s piano masterpiece Kinderszenen (1838), artist Pauline Rafal presents a newly created book art installation as part of the concert at Burgh House and Hampstead Museum. Alongside major works by Schumann, Annie Yim performs piano pieces, including a world premiere, by composer Charlotte Bray – Chapter One (2012) and Chapter Two (2015) – which resonate with the childhood theme in Schumann across two centuries.

You open the desk and you see there's a surprise inside – a book installation…When you read these books you realize that there's more to the story than just childhood – it's a real-life story that happened between two people [Robert and Clara Schumann] and which resulted in these amazing music compositions. – Pauline Rafal, book artist