Jason Kao Hwang

The music of Jason Kao Hwang (composer/violin/viola) explores the vibrations and language of his history. His compositions are often narrative landscapes through which sonic beings embark upon extemporaneous, transformational journeys. His most recent releases, The Human Rites Trio (w/Andrew Drury and Ken FiLIANO), Conjure (duo with Karl Berger), and Blood, performed by Burning Bridge (octet of Chinese and Western instruments), are receiving critical acclaim. In 2019, 2018, 2013 and 2012, the El Intruso International Critics Poll voted him #1 for Violin/Viola. In 2017 Downbeat Magazine named his quintet recording Sing House (Eunoymus) as one of the Best CDs of the Year. He was also the co-composer/violinist for Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of The White Snake, presented by Baltimore’s Center Stage. His 2015 CD Voice (Innova), which features vocalists Deanna Relyea and Tom Buckner performing East Village poetry with different ensembles, received critical acclaim. In 2015, his symphony The Challenge: Tiananmen Square, commissioned by the Multicultural Music Group, premiered at Lehman College. In 2014 the New York Historical Society commissioned Mr. Hwang to create music and sound design for its exhibition Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion. This is now in the permanent exhibit of the Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco. Zilzal (Innova), his duets with Ayman Fanous (guitar/bouzouki) was named one of the Top CDs of 2014 by All About Jazz/Italy, and was voted into the second round of the Grammy Awards. The first Burning Bridge (Innova) recording, commissioned by Chamber Music America was chosen by numerous publications, including Jazziz and the Jazz Times, as one of the top CDs of 2012. Burning Bridge has performed at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle (Canada), Edgefest (MI), Vision Festival (NYC), Chicago World Music Festival, Bop Shop (Rochester, NY) and the Freer Gallery (Washington, D.C.). El Intruso chose Mr. Hwang’s Symphony of Souls (Mulatta) performed by Spontaneous River, his improvising string orchestra, as one of the Top CDs of 2011. Symphony of Souls was performed at the Edgefest, Vision Festival, Living Theater (NYC) and Brecht Forum (NYC). In 2011, he composed If We Live in Forgetfulness, We Die in a Dream, premiered by the Momenta Quartet at the Museum of Chinese in America. His quartet EDGE toured Poland, with concerts in Posnan, Katowice, and Krakow. They also performed at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Discover Jazz Festival (VT), Edgefest, Vision Festival, An die Musik (Baltimore), Transparent Productions (Washington, D.C.), Brooklyn College (NY) and many other venues.

EDGE released three critically acclaimed CDS, EDGE (2006, Asian Improv), Stories Before Within (2008, Innova), and Crossroads Unseen (2011, Euonymus). In 2010, the New York Jazz Record selected Commitment, The Complete Recordings, 1981-1983 (NoBusiness), from a collective quartet that was Mr. Hwang’s first band, as one the “2010 Reissued Recordings of the Year.” In 2007 he released Local Lingo (Euonymus), his critically acclaimed duets with Sang Won Park (kayagum/ajeng). In 2005, New World Records released Mr. Hwang’s chamber opera The Floating Box, A Story in Chinatown. It was named one of the “Top Ten Opera Recordings of 2005” by Opera News. Mr. Hwang’s long-standing ensemble, The Far East Side Band (1990-2004), which featured taiko, kayagum, tuba and his violin, released two CDs, Urban Archaeology (1996, Victo) and Caverns (1994, New World). Mr. Hwang has received support from Chamber Music America, US Artists International, Meet the Composer/New Residencies, the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, New York Community Trust, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Greenwall Foundation, U.S Embassy in Poland, American Music Center, and Puffin Foundation. As violinist, Mr. Hwang has worked with William Parker, Pauline Oliveros, Karl Berger, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Drury, Patrick Brennan, Michelle Kinney, Tomeka Reid, Oliver Lake, Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris, Will Connell, Jr., Zen Matsuura, Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Swell, Patrick Brennan, Billy Bang, Vladamir Tarasov, Sirone, Jerome Cooper, Jeff Hoyer, Dr. Makanda Ken MacIntyre, Adam Rudolph and many others. Jason Kao Hwang has been artist–in-residence at the University of Southern Connecticut, Music From China, Museum of Chinese in America, and Asia Society. Mr. Hwang has lectured at Westminster, Brooklyn, and Queens College. Mr. Hwang taught Asian American Music, a course he originated for the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University. He was a teaching artist for Meet the Composer and Young Audiences New York, creating cross-curricular methods to teach composition, improvisation, and self-empowerment. Mr. Hwang currently teaches Sound Image in New York University’s Undergraduate Department of Film and Television. (jasonkaohwang.com)