A live concert about discovering and communicating Identity
Identity is the liminal space between self-reflection and outward expression. This means identity is not fixed, but rather a continually emerging process of discovery and communication. Sometimes, sharing parts of ourselves is painful. To avoid this pain, many choose to hide and censor their identity. In turn, opportunities for growth and self-discovery are stifled. The emergent character of Identity captures the sounds and emotions of overcoming identity suppression, and celebrates the catharsis of freedom.
Participating Artists
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Emily Boone, a passionate advocate of new music, works closely and collaborates with many living composers and musicians, performing and premiering works nationally and internationally. Emily is from Durham, North Carolina and began studying violin at the age of five with Dorothy Kitchen, founder of the Duke University String School. At age 16, Emily attended University of North Carolina School of the Arts as a student of Joseph Genualdi. Emily is an alumna of Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University where she received her Bachelor of Music degree as a student of MingHuan Xu. She also received her Master of Music degree from CCPA, where she was awarded the Large Ensembles Scholarship, as a student of Xu. Emily holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where she was awarded the Concertmaster Fellowship as a student of Genualdi. In recent years, Emily has been featured on the Kansas City label Mother Russia Industries and has been a part of numerous new music ensembles and performances. Notably, Emily has worked closely with composers such as Chen Yi, whose Violin Concerto Chinese Folk Dance Suite Emily performed a new version of as a world premiere in 2018, and Steven Bryant, whose multimedia work The Treachery of Sounds Emily performed as part of a world premiere of in 2022. Emily became a member of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble in 2021, an ensemble that seeks to bring together the music and arts of our time, providing meaningful experiences to audience members. She currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and travels throughout the United States to perform and collaborate with composers and musicians.
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George Teague is a cellist and teacher in the Milwaukee area. He completed his Master’s degree in Cello Performance at the Chicago College of Performing Arts under renowned pedagogue Dr. Tanya Carey. Before moving to Chicago, George completed his undergraduate degrees at Northern Arizona University under Dr. Mary Ann Ramos. While at NAU, he was the recipient of the Nadene Bean Performance Scholarship. He currently sits principal cello for the Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra, and has held principal seats in the CCPA Symphony and NAU Symphony Orchestras. As an active performer in the area, he has performed with groups such as the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra, Lake County Symphony Orchestra, and Metropolitan Chamber Players.
George enjoys performing and teaching in a variety of styles, and takes special interest in performing contemporary works for the cello. His current performance projects include works and improvisations that examine the role of the musician in current society, and those that break down the barrier between performer and audience. |
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Jamie Olah is a playwright hailing from the mighty Midwest. She writes about powerful women and girls who persevere in the face of overwhelming odds. Her plays are visceral, physical, and embrace the avant-garde. After earning her BFA magna cum laude in Theatre from Viterbo University in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Jamie spent fifteen years as a theatre-maker and educator in Chicago. She is the Founder of Chicago Playwrights Group, served as the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Grassroots Theatre Project, and acted as a company member with Dal Vivo and The Moving Dock Theatre Co. Her plays have been presented by New American Folk Theatre, The New Coordinates, The Arc Theatre, Links Hall, Clock Productions, Red Tape Theatre, Dell’Arte International, Food & Performance, and others. She is a three-time recipient of grants from the City of Chicago DCASE. Jamie is currently pursuing her MFA in Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Lise Kroner, Danish singer and composer has studied jazz singing at Skurups Folkhögskola and at the Academy of Music in Malmö. Lise works with the performance group 11th House Collective, where she has been writing music for the production, -Kära Kristine Jensen- and the virtual reality concert THE VOID. Lise has also worked with the Malmö based theatre group Teatr Weimar and performance artist Liv Vesterskov. Lise is a member of vocal quartet Åkervinda, where the members share a deep love of folk music and give new life to Scandinavian folk tunes through their original and modern interpretations. The group's second album 'Förgänglighet’ (2018) was nominated for a Swedish Grammis for “Folk Music of the Year”. Since January 2022 Lise has been a member the Danish songwriter Trinelise Væring and saxophone player Fredrik Lundin's -Tone of Voice Orchestra- and she is also a singer in the Malmö based project Cassius Lambert. Since 2016 Lise has been working with Chicago-based composer Sean Ellis Hussey.
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Sean Ellis Hussey sees music as an opportunity to engage vulnerability, inspire introspection, and generate collective action toward solving social issues. In this sense, Sean pursues collaborative artistic projects that directly engage the community. This includes orchestral miniatures that chronicle perceptions of marginalized identity, a ethnographic multi-media vocal oratorio revealing latent aspects of the United States foster care system in collaboration with Constellation Men’s Ensemble, a collaboratively devised opera that demonstrates the misrepresentation of women and minorities within the opera canon, and an ongoing collaborative music project meant to bridge disparate perspectives regarding refugees living in Sweden.
Sean’s music and activism have been recognized through numerous awards including selected student composer at the Chicago Electro-Acoustic Music Festival, the Grammy-Award winning Cleveland Chamber Symphony’s Emerging Composer Award, the 2017 OperaFEST featured composer, an artistic research residency at Lund University Inter Arts Center in Malmö, Sweden, and the 2018 Matthew Freeman Social Justice Award through the Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation. Sean holds bachelor and master’s degrees in music composition from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music and Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performing Arts respectively. |
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Serge Bulat is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer, born in the Moldovan-Ukrainian border town under the Soviet Union.
After various experiments in radio and performing arts, Bulat immigrated to the USA to pursue a career in music. The artist is known in the electronic and avant-garde music circles for the IMA-winning LP 'Queuelbum', the audiovisual installations 'Third World Walker', and the experimental video game 'Isolomus'. Recent works include albums 'Wurmenai' / 'Similarities Between Fish And A Chair', featuring collaborations with artists from 10 countries, and project "Inkblot" designed as a psychological test but expanded by additional senses. |
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This project is made possible through funding from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Individual Artist Program, as well as the Illinois Arts Council Agency Individual Artist Grant