{"id":94497,"date":"2022-10-21T09:05:04","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T13:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/?post_type=bu-article&p=94497"},"modified":"2022-10-28T08:39:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T12:39:56","slug":"cellist-leo-eguchi-performance","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2022\/cellist-leo-eguchi-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Cellist Leo Eguchi Performs Series of Works Commissioned from Immigrant and First-Generation Composers"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Japanese American cellist Leo Eguchi (CFA\u201902). Photo by Justine Cooper<\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCellist Leo Eguchi Performs Series of Works Commissioned from Immigrant and First-Generation Composers\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Alum\u2019s\u00a0Unaccompanied<\/em>\u00a0presents eight new works examining composers\u2019 \u201cAmerican-ness\u201d at the Pao Arts Center<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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October 21, 2022<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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This article was first published in Bostonia<\/em><\/a> on October 20, 2022. By Alene Bouranova<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Saturday, October 22, Japanese American cellist Leo Eguchi will perform Unaccompanied<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> a series of eight new works he commissioned from immigrant and first-generation composers around the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he started getting each composer on the phone back in 2019,<\/strong> Eguchi<\/a> (CFA\u201902) asked a question it\u2019s likely none expected to hear: \u201cWhat does your American-ness sound like?\u201d

\u201cTo a person, the line went silent on the other end,\u201d he says, chuckling. \u201cSeveral people were like, \u2018I\u2019m going to need to chew on that and get back to you.\u2019 At first, I wondered if there was something inherently offensive in the way I was asking, but eventually I realized that no, actually, maybe I\u2019ve got a really good question.\u201d

That question served as the basis for the eight works. (A ninth piece, by pianist Gabriela Lena Frank, will debut sometime in the spring.) In the pieces, which Eguchi will perform solo on Saturday, the composers put the facets of their American identity\u2014the roots, intersectionalities, immigration journeys, religious influences, hopes, and fears\u2014to music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result? Eight pieces \u201cas unique as the people writing them,\u201d Eguchi says, which, he adds, was always his intention. The composers \u201cabsolutely delivered on the range of vocabularies and styles and expressions. The concert is all over the place, in a really exciting way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concert starts at 7 pm at the Pao Arts Center<\/a> in Chinatown. Tickets are free to the public and can be reserved here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The featured musicians include Chinese American violinist and composer Shaw-Pong Liu, whose work is influenced in part by the prevalence of gun violence in America; Milad Yousufi, an Afghan composer and former refugee who Eguchi crossed paths with in Kabul; Colombian composer James Diaz, who frequently draws on themes of psychedelia and art; and Earl Maneein, a heavy metal violinist (yes, really) with Chinese and Thai roots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As anti-immigrant and anti-Asian rhetoric started making its way to national discourse and having real-world impacts on people in their lives and their safety and security, I began thinking if there was anything I could do about it, if there was any way I could contribute to a conversation and not be on the sidelines. I wondered if we could find ways to share our stories [about our identities] and have them actually connect with each other. And music seemed like a good way to do that.<\/div>