The East Asian Music in the Contemporary World (EAMCW) Initiave is a creative-research initiative founded in 2025 by Dr. Hippocrates Cheng 鄭靖楠 and fellow colleagues, in collaboration with North America–based musicians specializing in East Asian instruments and scholars focusing on East Asian music and its contemporary expressions.
As part of the EAMCW Initiative’s New York tour, Dr. Hong-Da Chin 陈宏达, Junghwa Lee 이정화, and Thomas Piercyトーマス・ピアシー will present a talk and performance on Friday, 17 April 2026 at 5:00 p.m. at New York University. During the event, the artists will perform excerpts from traditional and contemporary repertoires and share their experiences as musicians working in the United States.
Thomas Piercy, a hichiriki artist and new music advocate based in New York City and Tokyo, will discuss his training and performance experiences in Japan and the United States. Jung Hwa Lee, a gayageum artist and lecturer originally from Korea and now based in Los Angeles, will speak about her work performing traditional and cross-cultural music in the United States. Dr. Hong-Da Chin, a dizi artist and composer originally from Malaysia and now based in the United States, will share insights into his performance and compositional practice in both traditional and contemporary contexts in the United States. Dr. Hippocrates Cheng, composer and artistic director of the EAMCW Initiative, will moderate the event and introduce selected compositions of his to be performed by the participating musicians.
