Speaking

June 2023

"Phone a Friend: Visualizing and Realizing Your Networks."

Connecticut Summerfest, Hartford, Connecticut.

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​Who do you call when you need an ear? This one hour interactive workshop will focus on creating a personal development plan as an intentional approach to building out your network. We will discuss the relationship between networking and mentorship, different kinds of mentors and relationships you might want to cultivate, and various approaches to expanding your network in genuine and meaningful ways. Participants will leave this session with a map of their personal networks to better visualize how their networks support them in their artistic journeys. 

May 2023

"Writing the Personal Statement."

Àkójopò, Virtual.

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This one-hour interactive workshop will examine what makes a personal statement effective. After introducing the personal statement document, we will review different examples of personal statements, and brainstorm ideas for participants’ own statements. We’ll also strategize the writing process and come up with a plan for drafting, polishing, and submitting  documents for the application process.

June 2021 & 2022

"How Will We be Heard in History? Bias in Music Criticism."

Connecticut Summerfest, Hartford, Connecticut.

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Long before recording technology and the Internet made music distribution easily accessible, composers of classical music relied on word of mouth and printed reviews to build reputations and advertise their music. Classical music was considered to be a marker of taste, needing explanations and approval from experts in the field. Some of these experts were also composers themselves. Meanwhile women composers were criticized for stepping outside of their own gender roles. This white male-dominated form of criticism was the foundation of not only the field of musical journalism, but also the basis of commonly understood narratives of music history.

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This one hour interactive talk will interrogate the conventions of gender bias in music criticism in the contemporary music scene. A historical overview will demonstrate the origins of the gendered and biased criticism. We will consider the reviewing process and its significant impact upon a music composition’s (or more broadly, a composer’s) legacy (dare I use the term, canon formation?). Drawing on systematic rhetorical analyses designed to quantify the gendered and biased language of on opera reviews of the last twenty years, we will discuss some of the subtle and unconscious ways in which gender bias still persists in music criticism, as well as the inequities of gender, race, and economic status present in the professional music field. 

Participants will be asked to bring one online review of a music performance to the workshop for concrete examples to be used in a discussion.

July 2020

In Depth with Allison Chu

Lakes Area Music Festival, Brainerd, Minnesota.

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"Chamber Music Past and Present."

An introduction to the ensembles and forms of chamber music. Where did chamber music come from, and what are the benefits of the ensemble? Drawing on examples from the Romantic era through the contemporary age, I trace the rise in chamber music and its pathway to a staple of our musical consumption today.

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"Women Composers Through the Ages," with Caroline Shaw.

This talk focuses on key female composers throughout the history of Western Art Music, beginning with music-making nuns of 17th century Italy and leading up to modern day. After introducing a number of examples of female composers, the talk turns to a Q&A with composer Caroline Shaw.

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"The Road to the Gershwins' Porgy and Bess."

Drawing on my own research, this talk puts Gershwin's little known "jazz opera" Blue Monday in the larger context of his more famous opera, Porgy and Bess. Tracing various productions of these works, this talk explores the problematics of staging Gershwin's works in contemporary society and the complex racial politics of Gershwin's music.

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"Opening up the Genre of Contemporary Music," with Derrick Skye.

Beginning with a brief overview of minimalism, this talk considers programming trends of major orchestras and the role of contemporary music, classical music crossovers with jazz, and the voices of composers of color in diversifying our musical landscape. Contemporary trends covered includes the use of electronics, musical theater influences, collaborative pieces, and music in unconventional spaces. This talk ends with a Q&A with composer Derrick Skye.