Wear Yellow Proudly will present “Girls of Yellow Diamonds” a concert featuring Asian women composers and poets Friday, March 11 at 7:30 pm. ET at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
The event aims to uplift the stories of Asian women, honor the memory of the victims of the March 2021 Atlanta shootings, and celebrate International Women’s Day. Mezzo-sopranos Alice Chung, Sophia Maekawa, Pauline Tan, and pianist Ting Ting Wong will perform.
The program features works by Asian and Asian American composers including Beata Moon, Bosba Pahn, Chen Yi, Chihchun Chi-sun Lee, Cynthia Lee Wong, Justine F. Chen, Melissa Dunphy, and Michele Cheng.
“The sub-title of the recital is Songs of Asian-American Women,” says Wear Yellow Proudly co-founder Helen Zhibing Huang. “There are many different ways to define the “Asian-American woman.” It could mean someone’s official nationality and immigration status, how someone self-identifies, or a political collective. We are defining the term as an ‘experience’; the all-encompassing and various experience of being an Asian-identifying woman living in America.”
Modeled after the cycle of life, the program is divided into four sections: Songs of our Childhood, Growing Pains, Womanhood, and Future.
“Just like each human is a culmination of our own individual experiences, each song in these sections is a reflection of moments throughout the lives of various Asian-American women,” explains Alice Chung, co-founder of Wear Yellow Proudly. “These are the joys of innocence, a first love, experience with barriers, and dealings with trauma that force us to create inner strength strong enough to make us ‘girls of yellow diamonds’.
For the past two years, the Asian community continues to hear much news of violence, death, and mourning, and women have been unproportionally targeted,” continues Chung. “The Atlanta shooting incident, unfortunately, is not the only event in which Asian women have been targets to violence. With the attacks on Asian-American youths in Philadelphia just last December and recent killings of Michelle Go and Christina Yuna Lee in New York City, the stories of Asian-American women need to be shared more than ever.”
Tickets for the concert are $20 general admission/$15 students, and may be reserved online or purchased at the event.
About Wear Yellow Proudly
Wear Yellow Proudly is an Aural Compass Projects initiative that was created as a response to the increasing amount of xenophobia towards Asians across the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic. WYP aims to bring awareness to Asian culture by showcasing curated performances of music and poetry, hosting panel discussions, and celebrating the skills of Asian artists. The initiative hopes to strengthen the ties within the global community during the pandemic and beyond. For more information follow Wear Yellow Proudly on social media @wearyellowproudly and visit www.wearyellowproudly.org.
About the Academy of Vocal Arts
The mission of the Academy of Vocal Arts is to be the world’s premier institution for training young artists as international opera soloists. Through rigorous instruction and coaching, and by presentations of Resident Artists from around the world in concerts, oratorios, public programs and fully staged professional opera productions, AVA will train artists with the high potential for career success while enriching lives in Philadelphia and beyond. AVA’s Helen Corning Warden Theater was generously donated for this concert. For more information visit https://avaopera.org