Artist Spotlight

Chromic Duo and NY Philharmonic’s Team Up For Augmented Reality Concert Experience in NYC

Chromic Duo – Lucy Yao and Dorothy Chan – are teaming up with the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers Program for a project entitled “Emerald Futures” where they will combine the performance of the original compositions from the young composers (ages 12-16) with an augmented reality sound walk through New York City. The augmented reality experience will be available to anyone who would like to participate via the app Gesso (available on iOS and Android) starting on July 2nd.

An innovative way to experience music and storytelling, the walk will give listeners a multi-sensory experience as they experience the freedom of exploring the city while immersed in the sounds of original compositions. The scripted audio sound walk will lead listeners on a path through the city from New York’s Central Park to the Lincoln Center using a GPS trigger to create site-specific concert experiences, accessible to the participant at any time.

The experience culminates with Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya’s “We Belong Here” mural as a moment of reflection and response to ending AAPI hate. Phingbodhipakkiya created the “We Belong Here” campaign to confront the surge in bias and xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders – a cause that Yao and Chan are also supporting in their forthcoming work with Mott Street Girls to support local Chinatown businesses that have been impacted by the rise of AAPI crime. “In the wake of exclusion, noticing how much oppression there is in our world right now, we want to create a hybrid experience to experience concerts in public spaces that is the epitome of accessibility and inclusion,” says the duo. “We are motivated to create spaces where stories can be told to foster a deeper understanding of humanizing perspectives.” Through their own self-discovery as first and second-generation Asian Americans, Chromic Duo understands how expansive the diaspora is and how it fails to describe who they truly are. “By having so much that is undefined, part of the beauty behind this project is to create moments where there is a grey area- where sound is met with a strike of lightning in color, where the history of NYC is reflected on through a contemporary narrative of music by the next generation of young composers and thinkers,” says Yao.

Overall, Chromic Duo hopes that this reflective music and narration will allow participants to immerse themselves in an experience that brings to light the stories and perspectives of people and communities around them so that they can be inspired to respond based on empathy instead of biased judgment. “We also hope to inspire the young composers of this program to lean into their curiosities, and always be questioning and challenging the norms of how things came to be,” says Lucy Yao. “We often ask ourselves, ‘how can we use music as a positive force and tool to bring people together?’ Music has the power to take your perceived biases and understanding of the world and challenge them.” By bringing a new perspective on how participants perceive their environment and connect themselves within their communities, they are excited to see how it can interact with music to create innovative ways of “going through the motions” in an amplified manner that allows for new connections to happen.

About New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers Program:

An afterschool program through the School Partnership Program for grades 7-10, the Very Young Composer’s Program exposes students to the instruments of the orchestra, nurtures their inherent creativity, and culminates with original works performed by members of the Philharmonic. Students with or without musical backgrounds create, notate, and hear their very own music performed by Philharmonic musicians — often the full Orchestra — with the help of Philharmonic Teaching Artists serving as mentors. The VYC idea is rapidly catching on as it has reached children on four continents in countries including Korea, China, Japan, Venezuela, Spain, and Finland. VYC students in various American cities are exchanging “musical postcards” with these children around the world.

About Chromic Duo: Chromic Duo is an award-winning electronic toy piano duo that brings new audiences together by creating new connections between classical music, electronics, and multimedia. “Tackling large issues with toy pianos” – Chromic pushes the possibilities of genres and performance by recontextualizing classical music in multimedia work inspired by the multitudes as third-culture-kids discovering their voice within the vast Asian American diaspora. The duo composes and reorchestrates indie, classical, ambient, and electronica into arrangements that use any combination of keyboard instruments – ranging from the toy piano to melodica, toy horn, audio-reactive installations, and instruments that link sound to color and movement. Widely known as creatives in other aspects as well, Chromic Duo has projects ranging from collaborations with the New York Philharmonic Young Composers Program, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Educational Initiative, working in collaboration with the Design Museum of Chicago for two world premiere pieces during the pandemic, and other virtual experience collaborations that bring light to Asian-American identities and racial power structures. They were recently announced as the winners of Concert Artist Guild and Young Concert Artists Trust – opening doors for prestigious debuts at famous international venues like Carnegie and Wigmore.

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Connect with Chromic Duo:

Website | Instagram | Spotify

More information on the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composer’s Program:

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Album Review

Paul Terry, Aptøsrs & Cellarscape unite on bold new album “Alternative Piano Club”

Combining his three artistic alter egos, Paul Terry presents an awe-inspiring new 12-track album, “Alternative Piano Club,” written in collaboration with Aptøsrs and Cellarscape. This is an album-length voyage of music that blends acoustic, rock, and piano-driven cinematic sounds.

Torn between this complex emotional spectrum, all the while the piano remains at its core throughout. Paul Terry opens his “Memento Mori (Chromogenic Phase)” contemplatively, creating a solemn, reflective mood. Cellarscape’s “Three Years Of Roses“ is warmer, whereas Aptøsrs’ “Questionnaires“ is much more textured as a large, sculptural post-rock.

“Dave’s Theme,” written by Paul Terry, musically expands the narrative with a touch of cinematic elevation that aligns well. “We Shape The Clouds” by Cellarscape is fluffy and heart-warming, “Writers Behind The Curtain” is somber, more narrative. We are all together in “A Place We Made,” an honest, intimate, emotionally grounded space.

The project contains vocal warmth and cultural depth in the song “This Is My Home“ by Silas Miami & Lana Crowster. Proceeding in a totally different direction is the stronger emotional clarity of Paul Terry’s acoustic storytelling on “Any Time You Want To Fly” and “No Sleep Has Come.” Cellarscape presents a wide, spacious atmospheric moment in “Cygnus,” while Aptøsrs ends with “Rust Mountain (Monochrome Piano Version),” a simple gem that brings the project full circle.

The mixing of Sam Okell and Adam Noble, the mastering of Alex Wharton and Robin Schmidt have, in many ways, brought their polish to it while still making it feel human. “Alternative Piano Club” is a work entity, where three musical personalities met and talk mind in the same emotional language.

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Artist Spotlight

LAST ALEX! balances precision and pulse on the electrifying track “Plus 1”

LAST ALEX!, a Chicago-based artist and producer, comes out with “Plus 1,” a high-energy release that combines technical prowess with an undeniable melodic instinct.

LAST ALEX! puts both craftsmanship and creativity on display here. The song’s strength lies in its balance, in detailed execution without sacrificing feeling, and in complexity without losing momentum.

LAST ALEX! doesn’t fully lean into the cold technique or loose emotion, but finds the sweet spot where skill and soul meet. This yields a polished, vibrant, and musically confident track.

Connect with LAST ALEX! on Spotify