AMPLIFY! A Festival of Asian American Music, Sound, and Scholarship 2026
Organized by the Music of Asian America Research Center
in partnership with Asian Improv aRts Midwest and Elastic Arts
In-Person Component: Chicago, September 24-26, 2026 (with livestream)
Virtual Component: Second Wednesdays at 7pm ET starting in July
Call for Proposals | Schedule | Registration | Invited Artists | Presentation Abstracts & Bios
Chicago Festival Schedule, Sept. 24-26, 2026. All times listed at CDT. Unless otherwise noted, events will occur at Asian Improv aRts Midwest. Please look through the schedule to see which sessions are livestreamed.
Thursday, September 24
Time
10:00am
10:30am
12:00pm
2:00pm
3:00pm
3:30pm
5:00pm
7:30pm
Session
Coffee, Pastries and Welcome
Session #1: Reimagining Asian Traditions (Chair: Peng Liu)–Livestreamed
Angelina Gibson, “The Underwater Orient of John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid: A Choreomusicological Analysis of Yuan Yuan Tan and the Racialized Body”
Craig Parker, “Unification of Indian and Western Musical Idioms in Reena Esmail’s Meri Sakhi Ki Avaaz (My Sister’s Voice)
- Koeun Grace Lee, “Pansori Fantasy: Intersections of Korean Identity and Pianistic Innovation”
Lunch on Own
Session #2: Asian Improv aRts Midwest (Chair: Putu Tangkas Adi Hiranmayena)–Livestreamed
Tatsu Aoki and Kioto Aoki: A Conversation about the Legacy and Continuing Practice of AIRMW with Eric Hung
- Eric Zheng and Kioto Aoki, “Don! Affective Language and Sound in Asian American Performance”
Snack and Beverage Break
Session #3: Activism (Chair: Byron Au Yong)–Livestreamed
Hippocrates Cheng, “All of US: An Anti-Asian Hate Chamber Opera: Performance and Discussion”
- Cast: Ho Eui Holly Bewlay (soprano), Madelyn Deininger (mezzo-soprano), Esther Yi-An Tien Shield (mezzo-soprano)
Ensemble: Gabriel Roethle (violin), Keira Specht (violin), Trevor Bitner (viola), Kacee duGas (cello), Rui Jin (piano), Hyunchae Kim (gayageum)
- Joyce Kwon, Lecture-Demonstration of “Going Home to the Moon”
Dinner on Own
Concert #1: Evolving Traditions in the Diaspora–Partially Livestreamed
Margaret Lucia: Reena Esmail, Selections from The Crystal Preludes
The Reduction Quartet from the MIYUMI Project (Tatsu Aoki, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Jamie Kempkers and Kioto Aoki)
Craig Parker: Liliya Ugay, “Prayer”
The SamaSama Project: “The Great Filipino Songbook”
Friday, September 25
Time
9:00am
9:15am
10:15am
10:30am
12:00pm
2:00pm
3:00pm
3:15pm
5:00pm
7:30pm
Session
Coffee and Pastries
Session #4: Music Education (Chair: Eric Hung)–Livestreamed
Jonathan Sang-Joon Lee, “Critical Implementation of K-Pop in School Music Education”
Angela Chong, Tina Huynh and Joyce Kwon, “Three West Coast Asian Americans Bring Their Heritage Music to Rural Midwest Children”
Coffee Break
Session #5: Beyond Assimilation (Chair: Nic Vigilante)–Livestreamed
Naomi Niskala and An-Lin Bardin, “Adaptation and Identity as Asian Americans: Stories through Yiheng Yvonne Wu’s Three Adaptations for Cello and Piano”
Chao Tian, “Relationality: Improvisation, Jamming, and Grassroots Diplomacy in From China to Appalachia”
- Micah Huang and Michele Cheng, “Chasing Shadows: Resurrecting YingXi Shadow Puppetry at the L.A. Hungry Ghost Festival”
Lunch on Own
Session #6: Asians and Black Creative Music (Chair: Bess Xintong Liu)–Livestreamed
- Daniel Lin, Taylor Ho Bynum and Jeffrey Song, “Black Creative Music: Interrogating Categories toward Transcendence”
Snack and Beverage Break
Session #7: Activism II (Chair: Nancy Yunhwa Rao)–Partially Livestreamed
Lei X. Ouyang, “Asian American Artists in Action”
Putu Tangkas Adi Hiranmayena, “(Re)Fusing Cultural Keramaian: Social Activism in Reflexive Improvisations of Balinese American Noise”
Paul Cosme, Kaelyn Howard and Lorelei Harrel, “By Gongs and Songs: Constructing Filipino American Subjectivities through Philippine Traditional Performing Arts”
Dinner on Own
Concert #2: Old and New–Partially livestreamed
Nick Hwang, “You Are the Product”
Micah Huang & Michele Cheng, Free Improvisation
Joyce Kwon, “Folk Music for Folks of the Diaspora”
Craig Parker, Young Jo Lee: “Sori”
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer with Chao Tian, FROM CHINA TO APPALACHIA
Saturday, September 26
Time
9:00am
9:30am
11:00am
11:15am
12:15pm
2:00pm
2:30pm
3:30pm
3:45pm
4:45pm
5:00pm
8:30pm
Session
Coffee and Pastries
Session #8: Racial and Identity Politics (Chair: Michael Sy Uy)–Livestreamed
Nic Vigilante, “Happy Lunar New Year and Happy Black History Month, Y’all!”: The Racial Politics of House Music in Gaysian Los Angeles”
Adai Song, “Making Carmen in Chinese EDM Style: From Orientalist Listening to Plugin-Mediated Agency”
Peng Liu, “Rescripting Racialized Vulnerability: Asian American Children and Older Adults in Musical Activism during COVID-19”
Coffee Break
Session #9: Music and Wellbeing (Chair: Tina Huynh)–Livestreamed
- Leezel Tanglao, Mark Calaguas, Valter Gueverra, “‘Between Blinks’: Composing Sonic Pathways for Community Care”
Lunch on Own
Musical Interlude: Adai Song, “The Bloom Project”–Livestreamed
Session #10: Black-Filipinx Intimacies (Chair: Paul Cosme)–Livestreamed
- Elaine Andres, Mark Redondo Villegas, Melvin Villaver, “Black-Filipinx Encounters and the Limits of Identification and Solidarity”
Snack and Beverage Break
Session #11: Creating Music Today (Chair: Nick Hwang)–Livestreamed
Ky Nam Nguyen, “Ky Nam Nguyen’s So That Adventuring the Four Oceans Is Worthwhile for solo organ: A Vietnamese Woman’s Reimagining of “A Man’s Will”
Gordon Fung, Artist Talk
Conference Wrap-Up
Conference Dinner
Concert at Elastic Arts (3429 W. Diversey, Suite 208)–Livestreamed by Elastic Arts
Naomi Niskala and AnLin Bardin: Michi Wiancko, HOME
ghOstMiSt: Ayam who you say Ayam
Grace Lee: Texu Kim, Co.Ko. – un poco Loco
Juan Flores, gordon fung, Peixuan Ouyang, Kyle Price, and Sharkey Zalek: the state of (un)becoming
Virtual Sessions (all sessions are at 7pm ET / 4pm PT)
Date
July 8
August 12
September 9
October 21
November 11
Session
Tina Huynh, “Songs of Little Saigon” (moderator: Eric Hung)
Chiara Cox, “Belonging: Asian American Perspectives in the Opera Industry” (moderator: Ivy Martin-Zhou)
Creating Cross-Cultural Belonging through Music (moderator: Allan Zheng)
Yiqi Guo, “Transnational Musical Exchange and Community Building through Pe̍h-ōe-jī “
Zechary Phouthavong, “Constructing Lao American Identity Through Music and Performance at Lao New Year Festivals Across the United States”
Christine Kaford, “Between Two Stages: Vietnamese American Identity, Music, and the Quiet Journey Toward Nursing Education”
Asian American Collegiate A Cappella
C. Shen Yuan, “Community Making and Creative Expression in East/Southeast Asian-Interest Collegiate A Cappella Groups”
Interview with Elizabeth Ipe, Music Director of Anokha, University of Maryland’s all-gender South Asian American A Cappella