As a composer, I’m most interested by collaborative projects.  When Kristen explained her idea for the American Fusion Project to me, I was intrigued by her desire to combine multiple artistic disciplines into a common programmatic theme. 

The theme – Creativity and Artistic Inspiration – is especially important to me as a young artist. I often struggle with artistic merit. Does what I write fit into the mold of contemporary aesthetic ideals? What will my colleagues think of the piece I’m writing? Is the piece really me?  These are questions that face every young artist, and they are all addressed so sincerely in Frank O’Hara’s poem A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island. For a long time now, I’ve taken comfort in this poem during periods of self-doubt. As such, this project is what I consider a personal tribute to this poem.  

From my first bite of Kansas City BBQ to the first ten minutes in the Antique Mall in Lawrence, my preconceived notions of what Kansas would look, smell or taste like were shattered. I fell in love with the huge hearts of Kristen's family members, the drive around Lake Quivira, the intense enthusiasm of the audiences whom Kristen and I performed for this past summer, and so many other small yet powerful experiences. To be able to return not to only Kansas City, but also to Garden City where Kristen is from is a huge honor.

What I look forward to the most is being able to perform again for one of the most loving and supportive audiences I've ever encountered. The ability to work with students who are just realizing their passions for the performing arts is just another overwhelming bonus to what I know will be an artistically enriching and personally fulfilling week.

Besides trout fishing, furthering the expression of words and music is my favorite way to spend my time. Over the last 13 years, I’ve been consistently working in the theatre: as performer, sound technician, in scenic design/carpentry and as a technical director. I’ve never stopped loving the art of bringing stories to an audience. STORIES ARE WHAT BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER.

This project is special because of its originality and perspective brought by such a powerhouse of a team. The text we’re presenting by, my man, Frank O’Hara is genius on so many levels. He keeps it casual while explaining such a grand scene: the way I try to live my life –“Fly Casual” – Hans Solo (The Return of the Jedi). Bringing my love of story telling and text to schools is what I’m most excited about. It’s always an honor to share my experience as an artist with students who are openly learning about themselves and their passions. 

This past summer I performed four times in Kansas during a three week period. Twice with violinist Maria Im, and twice with mezzo soprano Elizabeth Fildes. It is hard for me to fully describe how overwhelming each of these performances was for me. To feel the genuine appreciation for this craft from the audiences, the support system I've been lucky to have my entire life, was a feeling I will never forget. Those three weeks inspired an idea, a vision, for what is now The American Fusion Project.

This is not a school-initiated project or a class requirement. It is simply because I believe in the arts and feel a certain responsibility to make sure there is a place for the arts in the future. This is my contribution. The exciting, fast-paced world of New York City may seem inaccessible at times when surrounded by the wheat fields of Kansas (however beautiful and golden they may be) and so I am choosing to become the link from New York to Kansas through this project. 

I cannot wait to bring this project to Kansas to share my world in New York with the many friends, family members, and students across Kansas. This project is taking me outside of my comfort zone, constantly pushing me to grow, think on my feet, and most importantly, helping to strengthen old ties and create new partnerships.   

I can’t quite remember the moment when I fell in love with dance; I think it was innate. Throughout my childhood I was always putting on productions in my basement, backyard, school or daycare. Ever since I can remember, I was brainstorming new possibilities for dance and theatre that my friends and I could bring to life.

I was drawn to The American Fusion project because its mission is in perfect alignment with my belief that anything is possible through art. In the spirit of possibilities, recently a group of Juilliard classmates and I have organized an outreach project in which we will be traveling to Hawaii in March of 2014. Our company, DaretoCreate, is working to expose communities to dance through interactive performances and workshops, and to encourage students to discover their inner artist. Leaving Minnesota to study at Juilliard, I aspire to one day return home to share what I have learned with others by creating a company and/or school. I am honored to be a member of both DaretoCreate and The American Fusion project as they allow me the opportunity to exercise my passion of spreading the message anything is possible.

I am an 18-year-old emerging artist from San Diego, California. I have been dancing since before my walking days, and still I am increasingly thrilled for every opportunity to share art and my love of movement with communities everywhere. Dancing, the most pure manifestation and melding of all aspects of our humanity—the physical, intellectual, and spiritual— everydaybecomes a truer way to approach the core of the unity of humanity and share it with others. I believe this is the case for all art that comes out of passion, which is why my excitement at the prospect of collaborating with a group of other inspirationally dedicated artists to create a concert that brings together many individual artistic viewpoints into one shared event makes me feel a little giddy.

I simply can’t wait to share our art with communities in Kansas! It is a joy for me to share dance everywhere, both within my own community in healthcare facilities in New York, and this coming year with the island of O’ahu, Hawaii as part of DareToCreate Dance Collective and with Prince Edward Island Canada, where I’ll be traveling to perform for as wide an audience as possible. And I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut, so perhaps one day we can even put dance in space to share on a truly universal level.

I was strongly drawn to Kristen's project because of the multi-faceted approach to her concerts, and as performers are well aware of, creating innovative programming is vital in the music and art world.  With such an array of different individual talents and specializations, I wanted to help create images that could complement the aural experience with the visual - a way of putting the artist in the context of the modern world.  

Praised by critics for his poetic and lyrical style, Jiyang Chen made his concerto debut at the age of seventeen with the Ruby Mountain Symphony Orchestra and performed the Gershwin Piano Concerto with the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra as well as the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Reno Chamber Orchestra. He received his Master’s in Piano Performance from New York University, studying under the tutelage of Seymour Bernstein, and his Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Barry Snyder as a recipient of the Howard Hanson Scholarship and the George Eastman Grant. Prior to that, he studied privately with James Winn at the University of Nevada, Reno.  He is also a portrait photographer based in NYC.   Chen is drawn to photography through its powerful storytelling capacity, and just as music is a way of painting with sound on the blank canvas of silence, he sees a photograph as that canvas for capturing the broad palette and nuanced brush strokes of his subject's story and emotions. It is an opportunity to capture moments that signify human experiences much larger than the moment itself.