Alone Together
Digital Album | Jennifer Koh
American violinist Jennifer Koh’s new recording, Alone Together is based on her online performance series of the same name, created in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the financial hardship it has placed on so many in the arts community. The New York Times called Alone Together “a marvel for a time of crisis” and the lineup of composers “more inclusive than anything in mainstream classical music.”
Koh has been highly visible during the pandemic as a result of Alone Together, which features short new works donated by established composers and commissioned from talented young composers who may be struggling financially because of the COVID-19 crisis. Koh performs 39 world premiere recordings of works by established composers such as Du Yun, Vijay Iyer, Tania Léon, George Lewis, Missy Mazzoli, Ellen Reid, and Wang Lu and the emerging composers they recommended including Katherine Balch, Nina Shekhar, Lester St. Louis, Rajna Swaminathan, Darian Donovan Thomas, and Sugar Vendil.
Koh is a forward-thinking artist dedicated to exploring a broad and eclectic repertoire, while promoting equity and inclusivity in classical music. She has expanded the contemporary violin repertoire through a wide range of commissioning projects and has premiered more than 100 works written especially for her.
Alone Together was commissioned and produced by ARCO Collaborative with the support of commissioning partners National Young Arts Foundation and generous individual donors of ARCO Collaborative.
What the Critics Are Saying
“a marvel for a time of crisis . . . more inclusive than anything in mainstream classical music. . .”
—The New York Times
TRACK LISTING
WANG LU
1 Hover and Recede (1:25)
JOUNGBUM LEE
2 hovering green (2:29)
MORGAN GUERIN
3 Together, But Alone (In Quarantine) (0:47)
VIJAY IYER
4 for violin alone (2:51)
SARAH GIBSON
5 You are still here (3:43)
DARIAN DONOVAN THOMAS
6 Art I Nat (1:01)
Ian Chang, electronics
TONIA KO
7 The Fragile Season (1:33)
THOMAS KOTCHEFF
8 vacuum packed (2:58)
NINA C. YOUNG
9 There had been signs, surely (2:09)
ADELIIA FAIZULLINA
10 Urman (2:04)
JEN SHYU
11 The River in my Mind (3:29)
INTI FIGGIS-VIZUETA
12 quiet city (1:52)
ELLEN REID
13 Brick Red Mood (1:48)
RAJNA SWAMINATHAN
14 Kindling (4:01)
ANTHONY CHEUNG
15 Springs Eternal (2:45)
TOMÁS GUEGLIO-SACCONE
16 Nocturno Lamarque (1:59)
ANJNA SWAMINATHAN
17 a beloved within (2:50)
LAYALE CHAKER
18 Bond of the Beloved (4:28)
DAVID SERKIN LUDWIG
19 All the Rage (2:00)
ELIZABETH YOUNAN
20 …your heart dreams of spring. (3:14)
RAFIQ BHATIA
21 Descent (1:32)
HANNA BENN
22 exhalation (2:24)
MISSY MAZZOLI
23 Hail, Horrors, Hail (2:24)
CASSIE WIELAND
24 shiner (1:06)
KATHERINE BALCH
25 Cleaning (0:49)
ANDREW NORMAN
26 Turns of Phrase (3:02)
ANGÉLICA NEGRÓN
27 Cooper and Emma (1:18)
TANIA LÉON
28 Anima (3:55)
CAROLINE DAVIS
29 heart rituals. (4:03)
NINA SHEKHAR
30 warm in my veins (5:19)
QASIM NAQVI
31 HAL (1:16)
SHAYNA DUNKELMAN
32 Afterglow (1:45)
DU YUN
33 Windowsills (3:39)
GEORGE LEWIS
34 Un petit brouillard cérébral (3:03)
LESTER ST. LOUIS
35 Ultraviolet, Efflorescent (1:02)
SUGAR VENDIL
36 Simple Tasks 2: Six-day deadline (3:37)
PATRICK CASTILLO
37 Mina Cecilia’s Constitutional (1:28)
VINCENT CALIANNO
38 Ashliner (0:53)
KATI AGÓCS
39 Thirst and Quenching (3:37)
PROGRAM NOTES | DOWNLOAD FULL BOOKLET
Alone Together
Notes by Jennifer Koh
I would like to thank all of the composers who wrote for Alone Together. I am grateful to be a part of the beautiful community of musicians who cared so deeply for their fellow artists that they donated their work and recommended their colleagues to be commissioned and funded at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. You gave me light and hope during the darkest days of the pandemic. I would also like to thank the donors who cared about the most vulnerable members of our musical community and made this commissioning project possible.
This album is dedicated to all of you. This music is not only a musical archive of the COVID-19 pandemic, but testament to the best parts of humanity. Special thanks to National Young Arts, William Josephson, George E. Lewis, Augusta H. Gross and Leslie B. Samuels for your early faith and generosity that made this project possible.