Bardin-Niskala Duo: "Of Innocence, Loss, and Healing: Songs My Mother Taught Me"November 5, 2021 at 7:30–8:30 p.m.

The Gustavus Department of Music is proud to welcome the Bardin-Niskala Duo to Gustavus Adolphus College and Björling Recital Hall. Formed by An-Lin Bardin, cello & Naomi Niskala, piano, they will perform their concert "Of Innocence, Loss, and Healing: Songs My Mother Taught Me".

In response to the tremendous losses of the pandemic and the systemic violence driven by racial and ideological divides, the Bardin-Niskala Duo is presenting programs based on the themes of innocence, loss, and hope.  They have chosen pieces that are centered around identity and culture, belonging and homeland, grief and mourning, and finally, the rebirth and hope that we all need.  This program also features the work of BIPOC and female composers, including a newly commissioned work by Taiwanese-American composer Yvonne Wu which “incorporates folk songs from China, Japan, and Taiwan, with the melodies going into and out of focus, as if obfuscated by time and distance. Eschewing a generic, pan-Asian flavor, the setting of the songs is meant to acknowledge the complex relationships that the performers and composer have with their respective Asian ancestries.”  

The Bardin-Niskala Duo is commissioning additional composers Juantio Becenti (Navajo nation), Niles Luther (Ugandan American), Michael Foumai (Hawaiian born Chinese-Somoan) and Chihchun Chi-Sun Lee (Taiwanese American) to compose pieces that celebrate the richness of distinct cultural identities, yet celebrate our mutual life journeys and the beauty innate to each of us as humans.