Resident Composer and Teaching Artist with Wildflower Composers and the Asian Arts Initiative
Tammy Huynh is our 2023 Resident Composer and Teaching Artist!
Tammy Huynh, a.k.a. mitamu, is a vocalist, composer, and improviser based in New York City. She holds the importance of storytelling as paramount and places experimentation at the heart of her music. She is interested in creating works that explore collective storytelling through improvisation, the relationship between poetry and music, and genre fluidity between jazz, chamber music, and pop. In 2021, she released her debut album "sunflower in the east" which received attention from several publications including WXPN and Bandcamp. In 2022, mitamu won 1st place at the Beta Hi-Fi Emerging Artist Festival Competition. Huynh is an alumna of several programs including Diamond Research Scholars Program and Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music. She is currently faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and fellow at the bespoken mentorship program.
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We would also like to congratulate our runner up, Migiwa Miyajima.
This opportunity is generously sponsored by the New Music USA Organizational Development Fund (awarded to Wildflower Composers for the 22/23 season) and by Asian Arts Initiative.
Photo credit: allis chang
About the Resident Composer and Teaching Artist (RCTA) position
Wildflower Composers and Asian Arts Initiative selected Tammy Huynh as our inaugural Resident Composer and Teaching Artist (RCTA) for the spring 2023 season. During the residency period, Tammy designed and led eight (8) workshops on composition for students involved in the AAI Youth Arts Workshop, and was commissioned to write a new piece for public premiere. Tammy received a $1,500 commission prize and a $1,500 teaching stipend, totaling $3,000 for the residency period.
On June 2nd, we celebrated the culmination of Tammy Huynh’s residency at Wildflower and Asian Arts Initiative with the premiere of her commissioned work, be the cyborg, and other songs from her upcoming album, Not Suited for Public Consumption. The performance also featured dancer Arien Wilkerson.
be the cyborg is a three movement piece that reexamines how oppression has influenced how we treat and view our bodies. This piece explores death, creation, and rebirth as we redefine how we view our bodies – ultimately creating a new found autonomy in us. be the cyborg is part of a larger work titled (NOT) SUITED FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION that explores themes such as futurism, hyper-consumerism, and decolonization.
This residency was generously sponsored by the New Music USA Organizational Development Fund with in-kind support from the Asian Arts Initiative.
More info forthcoming in fall 2022 about additional Wildflower programming.