Unheard-of Premieres New Work by Vicki Nguyen and NNUX
Tuesday, June 4, 2024, 8-10PM
Ruby City Sculpture Garden
Brooklyn-based quartet, Unheard-of, known for their inventive performances combining contemporary chamber music with technology, will perform in Ruby City’s Sculpture Garden kicking off the ensemble’s festival of performances throughout San Antonio.
For their performance at Ruby City, the ensemble is presenting works by NNUX (composer Ana E. López Reyes and visual artist Martha Maya), as well as a premier by composer Vicki Nguyen. Helix by López Reyes and Maya explores generational and collective trauma, and its impact on Latinx communities. Nguyen’s composition, Ginger-Flavored Bubblegum, addresses violence against Asian Americans, specifically the murders of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and Christina Yi.
Guests are welcomed to bring a picnic (no glass), low lawn chairs but are asked to leave pets at home.
Space is limited. RSVP here.
About Unheard-of
Ford Fourqurean (clarinet), Matheus Souza (violin), Iva Casian-Lakoš (cello), and Daniel Anastasio (piano) are Unheard-of, a Brooklyn-based clarinet, violin, cello, and piano quartet dedicated to connecting new music to communities in New York and across the United States through the development and performance of adventurous programs using technology and interactive multimedia. Unheard-of is committed to the idea that new music belongs in every community and implements this mission through concerts and educational workshops throughout New York as well as on tour. Unheard-of originally began as a commissioning project by Ford and Daniel in 2014 to expand the chamber music repertoire for clarinet and piano. The group formed as a quartet in 2018 and has since grown into a nation-wide community across multiple artistic genres. With an approach that is open and welcoming of all voices, Unheard-of strives to be a vehicle for development and growth for voices novel and experienced, experimental and traditional, uncomfortable and accessible.
About Ginger-Flavored Bubblegum
Nguyen’s composition, Ginger-Flavored Bubblegum, explores transcendence from grief by honoring poet, filmmaker, and artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha – who was murdered only a few days after the publication of her poetic autobiography, “Dictee.” Using selections of poetry from “Dictee,” this expanded version explores grief using Unheard-of Ensemble, electronics, and videography by Phong Tran.
About Helix
Helix by López Reyes and Maya is a piece that simulates a spiral from pre-Hispanic to contemporary times, contemplating the cycles and inheritance in women’s collective trauma, which has determined the ways we have been shaped as individuals through generations. Ana E. López Reyes and Martha Maya look to break the cycles in women’s generational collective trauma. This work explores their backgrounds and relationships with this trauma, and how it impacts Latinx communities generationally. Musically, the piece also explores the idea of sonic loops that gradually change and break, expanding on the ideas that Ana and Maya explore visually.