Ken Ueno: Wavelengths

Ken Ueno

A Berlin Prize and Rome Prize winner, Ken Ueno is a composer, performer, sound artist, and scholar. His music has been championed by leading performers and ensembles around the world. Shiroi Ishi, composed for the Hilliard Ensemble, remained in their repertoire for over a decade and was performed at venues such as Queen Elizabeth Hall (London) and the Vienna Konzerthaus, and broadcast on Italy’s RAI 3. Another work, Pharmakon, was performed nationally by Eighth Blackbird throughout their 2001–2003 seasons. A portrait concert of Ueno’s work was presented at MaerzMusik in Berlin in 2011.

As a vocalist known for his bespoke extended techniques, Ueno has performed his vocal concerto with major orchestras including the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Warsaw Philharmonic, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Du Yun, and maintains ongoing projects with Arnont Nongyao, Kung Chi Shing, Viola Yip, Matt Ingalls, and Karen Yu.

His sound art installations have been exhibited internationally at venues including the Taipei Fine Arts Museum; the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), part of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), in Mexico City; Tai Kwun, the Osage Gallery, and Eaton HK in Hong Kong; the Telfair Museum in Savannah; and Art Basel, as well as at museums and galleries in Beijing and Guangzhou. One of his largest projects, Daedalus Drones—an installation featuring a fence-labyrinth housing a swarm of flying drones choreographed for performance—was installed at the Asia Society of Hong Kong and featured in the New Vision Arts Festival in 2019.

In 2024, he was a featured artist at Noise Fest, curated by the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong. That September, the Arditti String Quartet premiered his latest string quartet at the Takefu International Music Festival, where Tosiya Suzuki also debuted Ueno’s concerto for bass recorder. Most recently, in April 2025, he was featured at A Bunch of Noise, Shanghai’s leading noise music festival.

Ueno is currently a Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His writings have appeared in The Oxford Handbook, The New York Times, Palgrave Macmillan, The Drama Review (TDR), and Wiley & Sons. He is co-editor of East Asian Voices of Resistance Against Racism in Music (Ethics Press), and his biography is included in The Grove Dictionary of American Music. He also served as guest editor of Sonic Ideas (Vol. 17, no. 33), curating the special issue Listening Against the Grain—AI, Music, and the Politics of Sound and contributing the lead article, “Wrong is Right: How AI Extends Postmodernism and Mis-maps Cantonese Music.”

Karen Yu

A sound artist and curator based in Hong Kong, Karen Yu’s interests revolve around improvisation with sound objects and bodily movement, and how artistic practices and personal contributions could weave people together in a space through collaborations. With a background in contemporary percussion performance, Yu is currently the Artistic Director of Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, a Co-Founder of the chamber percussion group, The Up:Strike Project, and an Associate Musician of Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.

As an active performer, Yu has recently performed as a soloist in Since When (2023), a multimedia theatre performance by Joyce Tang and Chow Yiu Fai, and Somnium (2022), an installation/opera/trance by Steve Hui. As a curator, Yu has curated the latest edition of the annual sound festival in Hong Kong Sound Forms with Tai Kwun Contemporary, and co-curated the annual UNHEARD sound and music festivals with Eaton Hong Kong and _dtby, as well as the Noise Fest at Freespace West Kowloon.. Devoted to promoting sound art and sound pedagogy, she has recently curated a sound art initiative through Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, Push the ENVELOPE, that aims to diversify our listening approaches and cultivate interests in sound-making as art-making.

Karen Yu obtained a Bachelor and a Master of Music (Music Performance, Percussion) from McGill University. Yu is an instrumental instructor at the University of Hong Kong and part-time lecturer at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts School of Theatre & Entertainment Arts.

Samuel Chan

The First Prize winner of the 2015 Percussive Arts Society International Solo Percussion Competition and 2014 Great Plains International Marimba Competition, Samuel Chan’s diverse performing experiences have taken him to celebrated concert halls on multiple continents. Samuel’s past highlight includes appearances as soloist with the Houston Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed with ensembles such as the Malaysian and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, and in summers at the Lucerne, Verbier, Tanglewood and Pacific Music Festivals. An avid chamber musician and a member of The Up:Strike Project, he was invited to perform on tour throughout Europe as Co-Principal with the World Percussion Group in 2017, and has collaborated with such acclaimed artists as Lawrence Lesser, Angelo Yu, Orli Shaham, and Aiyun Huang. He has also premiered works by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Ken Ueno and George Lewis.

Equally recognized as an educator, Samuel has presented clinics at renowned institutions including Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Danish Royal Academy of Music, and Norwegian Academy of Music. He has taught as a substitute percussion faculty at the Tianjin Juilliard School. Samuel currently serves on the faculty of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts’ Junior Music Programme and is an instrumental instructor at the University of Hong Kong. Samuel obtained his Artist Diploma from the Colburn School and Master of Music from The Juilliard School, after studying at the New England Conservatory and Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

Emma Ng

Emma Ng obtained her Bachelor of Music (Honours) from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts majoring in Timpani and Orchestral Percussion, under the tutelage of Aziz D. Barnard Luce and James Boznos, both principals of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, where she was awarded the Mr. & Mrs. Y S Liu Scholarship in 2022 and 2023. Recently, she has collaborated with the renowned ensemble, Third Coast Percussion and won Championship in Future King of Drums Tournament 2024. Previously, she was involved in the Soundscape Festival in Italy, Tan Dun’s Sound Vision Immersive Opera and Hong Kong Week@ Bangkok.

ADRUNNOGNT

Arnont Nongyao (TH) and Nguyen Ngoc Tu Dung (VN) are two practitioners with different focuses but have similarities in their curiosity about experimenting with vibration and energy. Since 2019, occasionally, they will come together for collaborations and reunions through their duo name ADRUNNOGNT.

Rebecca Lloyd-Jones

Rebecca Lloyd-Jones is a Lecturer at Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, a Marimba One Education Artist, and the Artistic Director of Synergy Percussion. Praised as “captivating” (San Diego Union-Tribune), she has performed at major events such as the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, IMPULS (Graz), soundSCAPE (Italy) and held residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canada. Rebecca has performed with the PARTCH ensemble, Red Fish Blue Fish and was an adjudicator for the IPEA International Percussion Competition in Hong Kong (2024).

With an extensive research portfolio, Rebecca has received funding from the American Australian Arts Fund, the Creative Arts Research Institute (CARI), and was awarded the 2025 Elizabeth Wood Musicology Research Fellowship from the University of Adelaide. She presented her research at the Transplanted Roots Percussion Research Symposium 2017-2019 and served as the artistic producer for the 2022 symposium in San Diego, USA. As a composer, Rebecca’s works are released on labels including Populist (Los Angeles), New Focus Recordings, and MADE NOW MUSIC, and her pedagogical compositions have been published in the AMEB percussion syllabus.

Rebecca graduated from the Victorian College of Arts with the Desma Woolcock award for academic excellence, received a Master of Music Research from the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, and holds a Doctorate from the University of California San Diego with Distinguished Professor Steven Schick.

Matthew Lau

Hailed by the Aspen Times for his “soulful and technically impressive solo” at his vibraphone concerto debut at the Aspen Music Festival, percussionist Dr. Matthew Lau performs a wide range of repertoire with an absolute commitment to communicate the meaning and essence of percussion music to its audience, from arrangement of Bach to avant-garde contemporary pieces by Donatoni, in high calibre performances with a whimsical twist. As a queer Asian percussionist, Dr. Lau challenges the conventional narratives and works to change the traditional prescribed career path.

Matthew is the co-founder and artistic director of Hong Kong contemporary percussion group The Up:Strike Project, and is part of the duo Fisher/Lau Project Matthew enjoys an international teaching & performing career, 2019–2022 engagements include appearance in universities, festival and competitions in countries like USA, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Taiwan, Spain, Australia, and Russia. Matthew obtained his DMA in percussion performance from Stony Brook University under Eduardo Leandro. Matthew was awarded the prestigious LAB Grant from the Boston Foundation for 2022–2023. Matthew also receives additional projects & touring grants from Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and is named Award for New Artist at the 2018 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. He is currently on the Board of Advisor and Keyboard Committee for The Percussive Arts Society, and Board of Directors for The Vibraphone Project Inc.

Dr. Lau is Premier Artist of Marimba One, Artist Endorser of Black Swamp Percussion, and Signature Artist of Encore/Salyers Mallets. In his spare time he is an avid yoga practitioner and believes proper alignment can get rid of certain soreness in percussion playing. He is also a Level 1 Master Knitter from The Knitter’s Guild Association.

Bevis Ng

Bevis Ng, a Toronto-based percussionist from Hong Kong, specializes in contemporary classical music. He is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance at the University of Toronto, supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship and Terence Clarkson and Cornelis van de Graaff Graduate Scholarship. His research focuses on rehearsal strategies for percussion chamber music.

Bevis founded two percussion ensembles: the award-winning KöNG Duo with Hoi Tong Keung and the Kairos Percussion Quartet. KöNG Duo has performed internationally in Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S., and is a Marimba One ensemble artist. The newly formed Kairos Percussion Quartet, featuring Andrew Busch, Nikki Huang, and Thomas Li, has performed across Canada, including at the Aga Khan Museum and McGill University. In 2024, they were featured as the solo quartet in Kevin Lau’s Charon’s Dance with the University of Toronto’s Wind Symphony.

Bevis emphasizes the power of thoughtful programming, composer collaboration, and recontextualizing existing repertoires to make contemporary music more accessible. His co-curated project, good morning, hong kong, performed by KöNG Duo, combines video, lighting, voice, and music to explore nostalgia and longing for a lost home. Through his work, Bevis aims to make contemporary classical music more relatable and inviting for audiences.