ERIKA JI

Some art I'm grateful to be working on.

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Recent

• Jan-Mar 2026 — San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Pittsburgh — composing an audiovisual duet for and with pianist Kevin Lee Sun that explores the beauty and anguish of interpersonal resonance. Commissioned by Claire's Continuum.

• April 13-14 — New York, NY — Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria, in concert at Joe's Pub. Read about it in Playbill here, tickets were once here. Produced with gracious residency support from the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

• Wednesday, May 6 @ 8pm— New York, NY — four; interwoven at the Greenwich House Uncharted Concert Series as part of the Elebash Artist Residency.

• Sunday, May 17 @ 3pm — Brooklyn, NY — Premiere of requiem (wail) by Da Capo Choir, conducted by Patty Irwin. RSVP was here.

• Wednesday, June 3 @ 7:30pm — New York, NY — four; interwoven at the Downtown Urban Arts Festival.

• June-July — Schwandorf, Germany — Composer in Residence at the International Künstlerhaus at Kebbel Villa.

• July 9-11 — Minneapolis, MN — In residence with the artistic team at Theater Latté Da for the NEXT Generation Commission.

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Current & Upcoming

• Monday, November 9 — Brooklyn, NY — We'll be sharing a song at Songs For Our Neighbors, a benefit concert at Greenpoint Church. All donations, gifts, and contributions will benefit our trans and queer siblings who have been impacted and incarcerated by ICE, through the work of the Trans and Queer Community Fund (The Queens Organization).

• 2026-2027 — USA — New Music USA has awarded me a grant from the 2026 New Music Creator Fund to record & release the VISARE concept EP.

• 2026-2027 — Minneapolis, MN — Clare Fuyuko Bierman and I have been awarded the 2026 NEXT Generation Commission by Theater Latté Da. We recently talked about it on local radio.

• June 17, 2027 — České Budějovice, Czech Republic — Curating, arranging, and performing Píseň, čarodějka (Song, the Sorceress) with Alena Hron, Lukáš Janata, and musicians from the Jihočeská Filharmonie (South Czech Philharmonic).

• Aug-Sep 2027 — Visby, Sweden — Visby International Centre for Composers, Composer in Residence.

• Mar 2028 — New York, NY — Resident Artist at the cell, developing the musical suite for Passage to my Parents.

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Ongoing

• Clare Fuyuko Bierman and I are developing a concept EP based on VISARE, an immersive circus fantasia.

• Brandy Hoang Collier (book), Clare Fuyuko Bierman (lyrics), and I (music) are the creators of Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria. This new musical was commissioned and developed by the 5th Avenue Theatre (2021-23) and is being developed with support from the Civilians' R&D Group (2022-23), the NAMT Frank Young Fund (2023 & 2025), the Orchard Project (2023), the O'Neill National Music Theater Conference (2023), the NAMT Festival of New Musicals (2023), the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat (2024), the MAP Fund (2024), Theatre Latté Da (2024), the Johnny Mercer Writers Grove (2025), the American Playwriting Foundation (2026), and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) (2026). Gloria is the winner of the Bret Adams & Paul Reisch Foundation's Vivace Award (2023) and finalist for the American Playwriting Foundation's Relentless Award (2025).

• The New York State Council on the Arts awarded me an artist grant via New Music Theatre Project to compose the musical suite that will become Passage to my Parents, by Brandy, Clare, and me. The piece is an adaptation of Huang Xiangjian's 1656 scroll painting Searching For My Parents.

• I serve on the Music Committee of the Dramatists Guild, co-chaired by Adam Gwon & Julianne Wick Davis.

Fall 2025

• Sep 2025 — New York, NY — Brandy, Clare, and I are finalists for the American Playwriting Foundation's Relentless Award. It's an honor to have folks who knew and loved Philip Seymour Hoffman and Adam Schlesinger see our work as part of their legacy of fearless, bold, relentlessly honest storytelling.

• Sep-Oct 2025 — Banner, WY — Jentel Artist Residency.

• Sunday, October 12, 2025 — New York, NY — the Relentless Award Celebration featuring "Lucky Numbers" from Gloria, performed by Emy Coligado, Claire Kwon, Steven Tran, and the house band!

• Thursday, November 6, 2025 — New York, NY — Premiere of four; interwoven at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music. Commissioned by New Music Theatre Project, directed by Chaesong Kim, featuring Cooper Baldwin, Matthew Billman, Lian Kelmann, and yours truly.

• Tuesday, December 16, 2025 — New York, NY — An invited gathering for the early and evolving musical suite of Passage to my Parents at the Dramatists Guild Foundation Music Hall.

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Summer 2025

• Aug-Sep 2025 — Amherst, VA — Virginia Creative Center for the Arts Residency, working on Passage to my Parents.

• June 14-22, 2025 — New York, NY — Developmental workshop for four; interwoven with New Music Theatre Project.

• Accordion/Key 2 Sub for Cabaret on Broadway. MD: Meg Zervoulis Bate, AMD/Key 2: Anessa Marie Scolpini.

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Winter & Spring 2025

• May 2025 — Austerlitz, NY — Millay Arts Core Residency, working on four; interwoven.

• March 2025 — San Jose, Costa Rica — Artist in Residence at the Casa Uno Residency, working on four; interwoven.

• Feb 2025 — New York, NY — received a NAMT Grant for Gloria via the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals.

• January-February 2025 — East Haddam, CT — Johnny Mercer Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals, with Brandy and Clare, working on Gloria and Passage.‍

• Copyist for the Off-Broadway premiere of the musical Facings.

• Alto soloist for Holy Week services at St. Brigid RCC.

• Accordion/Key 2 Sub for Cabaret.

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Late Fall 2024

• December 18, 2024 — Tokyo, Japan — International Songwriters' Showcase at Hibiya Theatre Creation sponsored by 東宝 (Toho), presenting music from VISARE.

• November 18, 2024 — New York, NY — Awarded an Artist Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts via New Music Theatre Project to compose the musical suite that will become Passage to my Parents, by Brandy Hoang Collier, Clare Fuyuko Bierman, and me.

• November 3-18, 2024 — Minneapolis, MN — Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria is developed at a workshop sponsored by Theatre Latté Da, the MAP Fund, and NAMT's Frank Young Fund.

• Alto soloist for Christmas services at St. Brigid RCC.

• Accordion/Key 2 Sub for Cabaret.

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Early Fall 2024

• ‍Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria receives an artist grant from the MAP Fund.

• Volunteer for the 52nd Street Project Songmaking Program.

• Accordion/Key 2 Sub for Cabaret.

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Summer 2024

• Brandy, Clare, and I head to the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat in Pine Plains, NY to develop Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria.

• Solo Artist Residency at Butter Hill in Sharon, CT.

• Workshop for four; interwoven in New York, NY.

• KHORIKOS performs at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. for the Sound Scene Festival.

• Accordion/Key 2 Sub for Cabaret on Broadway. MD: Jennifer Whyte, AMD/Key 2: Meg Zervoulis Bate.

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Winter & Spring 2024

• Artist in Residence at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, NM for 3 months.

• Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria shares a song at the Maestra AMPLIFY Concert. An honor to share our work alongside music legends like Ingrid Michaelson and Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez.

• Brandy, Clare, and I are among the top 25 applicants (out of over 700) for the Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellowship.

Late Fall 2023

• Brandy, Clare, and I are winners of the Vivace Award, one of the Bret Adams & Paul Reisch Foundation's IDEA Awards for Theatre. A huge honor to be celebrated with Grace McLean, Jesse Jae Hoon, and Beth Henley.

• The New Music Theatre Project commissions me to create a new piece of music theatre, an untitled quartet project, that explores the tension between the vibrant self and the powerful collective through the interwoven voices of four musician-storytellers.

• Conductor, Vocalist, and Pianist with KHORIKOS for CIVITAS. Highlight: conducting a movement from one of my favorite choral pieces, Herbert Howells's Requiem.

• Panelist for Classic Stage Company's production of I Can Get It For You Wholesale with Jennifer Ashley Tepper. I talk about one of my favorite frameworks for thinking about theatre, which I got from my teacher Donna DiNovelli, which she got from her teacher Paula Vogel: the Naive, the Sophisticate, the Decadent.

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Early Fall 2023

• Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria presents 45 minutes at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) Festival of New Musicals.

• Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria is developed at a workshop sponsored by the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, WA.

• Key 2 Sub for Kimberly Akimbo on Broadway. MD: Chris Fenwick, AMD/Key 2: Brian Ge.

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Summer 2023

• Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria is developed and presented at the O'Neill National Music Theater Conference in Waterford, CT.

• The Gloria writers are artists in residence at the Orchard Project Performance Lab in Saratoga Springs, NY.

• Composer Residency at the KHN Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, NE to work on the concept EP for VISARE.

• Key 2 Sub for Kimberly Akimbo.

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Spring 2023‍

• Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria has a 29-hour reading at the National Opera Center in New York, NY, sponsored by The Civilians, 5th Ave, and NAMT's Frank Young Fund.

• STARSONG, a light puppetry work created with Andrew Strano, is produced at SOUND BITES X.

• Original Score for in her memory, a short film by director & cinematographer Mia Hagerty.

• Key 2 Sub for Kimberly Akimbo.

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Winter 2023

• Key 2 Sub for Kimberly Akimbo on Broadway. MD: Chris Fenwick, AMD/Key 2: Brian Ge.

• Artist Residency at the Butterfly House in Joshua Tree, CA with Clare, Mikey Rose, and Dahlak Brathwaite.

• Music Team for The Shrinking of Treehorn (Netflix). Music Producer: Marius de Vries.

‍Fall 2022‍

• Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria has a 29-hour reading at Playwrights Horizons in New York, NY, sponsored by the 5th Avenue Theatre.

• Brandy, Clare, and I join The Civilians' R&D Group to develop Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria.

• LUNEVÁL—an evening of reflection and collective ritual guided by artists Mikey, Brandy, Alex, and me—takes place.

• Conductor and Soloist for KHORIKOS ORTUS concert selections.

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Summer 2022

• ‍Clare and I join the 2022 Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project.

• Artist Residency at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle for Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria.

• ‍STARSONG is selected for the Chain Theatre Play Festival.

• Music Director for Mammelephant with Superhero Clubhouse. Dir: Nana Dakin.

• Music Team for Dicks: The Musical (A24). Executive Music Producer: Marius de Vries.

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Spring 2022

• Artist Residency at the Mutual Aid Society Catskills for the development of a new community ritual with Mikey Rose, Brandy Hoang Collier, and Alex Becker.

• Vocalist with KHORIKOS for forthcoming studio album.

• Vocals and Additional Lyrics with Déa Thatcher for tinydesk-esque live session in Wood-Ridge, NJ.

• Music Team for workshop of new musical by Irene Mecchi. MD: Jason Michael Webb.

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Winter 2022

• Composer & Music Director for Playmaking at the 52nd St Project.

• Music Director for Then She Ran and For Show at 54 Below.

• Vocalist with KHORIKOS for New Amsterdam Records at (le) poisson rouge.

• Copyist for workshop of Show & Tell by Max Vernon.

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Fall 2021

• [untitled hat project], a tiny immersive experience created by Clare and me, premieres at an eclectic hatmaker's studio.‍

• Clare and I are nominated for the Vivace Award for our immersive circus fantasia, VISARE.

• Singer-Songwriter for From Story to Song, collaborating with Kelly Bachman. Keepsake House founders Jay & Hailey asked me some thoughtful questions here.

• Associate MD for workshop of Invincible by Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo and Bradley Bredeweg. MD/Arranger: Jesse Vargas.

• Music Director for reading of Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ben Steinfeld. Dir: Rebecca Martinez.

• Accordion & Keys for Mikey Rose & The Dumb Americans.

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Summer 2021

• Music Director for the inaugural production of Scarlet Night, an immersive show that transforms Virgin Voyages's Scarlet Lady into "a menagerie of delights and euphoric exaltation" for 3,000 guests. Dir: Asher Young, Ellie Heyman.

• Assistant MD & Keys for Pippin, She Loves Me, and Man of La Mancha at the Mac-Haydn Theatre. MD: Déa Thatcher.

• Music Team for workshop of The Tattooed Lady by Max Vernon and Erin Courtney. MD: Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh.

• "Night Time Snacks" is presented at the Hidden Gems Gala, which raises over $250K for the 52nd Street Project.

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‍Spring 2021

• STARSONG, a light puppetry work created by Andrew Strano and me, premieres Off-Broadway at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

• "Space" is presented at Broadway's Future Songbook at Lincoln Center.

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Winter 2021

• Clare Fuyuko Bierman and I are winners of the 2021 New Voices Project for songs from our immersive circus fantasia, VISARE.