chatterbird, a Nashville-based chamber ensemble, is excited to partner with artist, producer, and activist Alex Wong for a first-of-its-kind immersive concert experience celebrating and exploring Asian-American identity. Permission: A Multi-Sensory Album Release Show will take place November 24 at Darkhorse Theatre, and tickets are available here. Darkhorse Theatre is located at 4610 Charlotte Ave.
Wong’s latest album, PERMISSION, is an honest, personal, and at times uncomfortable look at Wong’s journey as a person of color learning how to take up space in America and exploring what Asian-American music can sound like.
To bring the album to life, Wong has developed a multi-sensory live experience called THE PERMISSION PARTIES which uses food as an on-ramp to his cultural memory. He created a first-of-its-kind listening and tasting performance pairing each song from the album with a Chinese-inspired dish that shares a common emotion. Audiences move throughout multiple spaces to experience music, projected imagery, and food, all related to themes from the work.
“Growing up in the US as a second-generation Chinese American, I struggled to feel permission to take up space. Movies and media told me I was allowed to be a buddy, a punchline, or a decoration, but there was not enough space for my story in the center of the room,” said Alex Wong. “By sharing the emotions connecting my music, food, and identity, I hope to empower everyone, especially those on the margins, to feel permission to take up space with their stories.”
Chatterbird will collaborate with Alex to design and present a live performance based on the Permission Parties experience, featuring never-before-heard compositional elements for the ensemble composed by Wong to accompany the album’s songs.
“Alex’s music helps us enter difficult conversations, find shared experiences, and build community, and this collaboration is an important next chapter in an already impactful body of work,” said chatterbird Artistic Director Celine Thackston. “We are beyond excited to partner with Alex Wong and present this unique, multi-sensory experience.”
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