Thanks to WQXR and Donna Weng Friedman for the wonderful project “Heritage and Harmony” and for including me in this celebration of Asian and Asian-American musicians. They asked me to choose a short work by an Asian composer and make a video of it, with a spoken intro about my background. I played “Dramatis Personae” (2016) by Anthony Cheung and talked about my Taiwanese mom and her path in “classical” music. Anthony made a video talking about his piece and the complex influence of his heritage on his work.

My sense of being Asian is also complex and I appreciate being invited to participate in this project. As a mixed-race person (Taiwanese, Eastern-European Jewish, and English), who grew up in New York City, I’m rarely viewed as typical of, or claimed by, any group identified by ethnicity. However, the good thing is that a mixed background exposes you to different cultures early on.