Intercultural Music Collaboration with HarmoniZing

In their return to Alphabet City, HarmoniZing presents a new formation consisting of Mimi Jong (erhu), Huda Asfour (oud), and Bailey O’donnell (tabla). All three musicians were members of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Global Musician Workshop. The trio shares a passion for intercultural collaboration, creating music mostly based on the Chinese, Arabic, and Indian traditions fused with today’s global perspective.

About the Musicians:

Mimi Jong (erhu) regularly performs the erhu, an ancient Chinese two-string fiddle, in a wide variety of cross-disciplinary settings. By moving beyond tradition and embracing the erhu’s versatility, she has brought erhu to modern movement combining its hauntingly beautiful voice with dance, theater, poetry, and other ground-breaking cinematic performances. As a member of Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Global Musicians, she subscribes to the philosophy that communing through music transcends cultures and genres. Her music straddles cultures and dissolves boundaries, creating new overlapping musical frontiers. Mimi was a recipient of the 2014 Master Artists and Tradition Bearers Award from Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area. As the former music program director for the Silk Screen Arts and Cultural Organization and the founding member of HarmoniZing, Mimi’s contributions include inviting international performing artists for concerts and residencies, providing a platform for diverse expression in the Pittsburgh cultural landscape.

Huda Asfour (oud) believes in the necessity of transcending borders which is reflected in her work as an educator and musician. Huda’s formal training in music began in Tunis at the age of 13. She later studied in Gaza and then joined the Edward Said Conservatory in Ramallah under the supervision of Khaled Jubran. Huda has since released two studio albums—Mars… Back and Forth in 2011 and Kouni in 2018—and has released music for film and multimedia, in addition to a number of collaborations across genres. In March 2019, she was nominated for the Aga Khan Music Awards. Currently, she is developing her improvisational practice as a musician and educator, with a focus on Arabic music aesthetics. In addition to her music work, Huda also holds a BS and a PhD in electrical engineering from George Washington University and has over 10 years of research and teaching experience in the field of biomedical engineering. You can learn more about Huda at hudaasfour.com.

Bailey O’Donnell (tabla) is an apprentice of tabla maestro Sandeep Das and a tabla player, percussionist, and composer. A classically-trained musician, her experiences at the intersection of two diverse rhythmic traditions give her a unique perspective and ability to facilitate exchanges between Western Classical and Indian Classical Music. Bailey has performed with various ensembles at venues like the Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center in Chicago, TivoliVredenburg in the Netherlands, the Chan Centre in Vancouver, Canada, and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, China. She is currently based near Boston in the United States. You can learn more about Bailey at https://www.sbaileyodonnell.com.

About Your Visit: 

The in-house restaurant 40 North will be closed, but a cash wine bar will be available.