Ear To Mind To Stage: NYC Music Organization Premieres Contemporary Piano Music At Carnegie Hall

Jenny Q. Chai

Earlier this year we told you about the new Ear to Mind website created by 3rd Ward Web Design teacher David Karlins, and this Thursday, April 19 the NYC music organization will present the Carnegie Hall concert that inspired that new online destination.

The concert is a solo recital by acclaimed pianist and Jenny Q Chai, who will perform the world premiers of "Parallel Lines," a piece by composer and Ear to Mind co-director Inhyun Kim, and "Current," by Taiwanese composer Ashley Fu-Tsun Wang. The program also includes the US premier of "Innige Cavatina" by Italy's Marco Stroppa, as well as works by Debussy, Ligeti, Messiaen, Kurtág and Schumann. With the concert's diverse selection of works, Chai presents a broad musical survey. "I feel a sense of contentment programming creative concerts, mixing and matching old and new works, so as to highlight what is most special in each piece," she says. "After all, nothing comes from nothing, and new music is very much connected to that which came before."

For more information check out Page4Music's podcast interview with Chai, Kim and Ear to Mind board member Ruyi Lu.

The concert starts at 7:30pm this Thursday at Zankel Hall, which happens to be both Carnegie Hall's oldest and newest performance space. The hall, which New York magazine says "feels like a sacred underworld swathed in sea glass and forest green," hosted Carnegie Hall's very first concert, a 1891 piano recital, before splitting off to become a theater then cinema during the 20th century. It was revamped and reunited with the world-renowned music venue in 2003. Grab tickets for Ear to Mind's concert here.

-- John Ruscher

Contemporary Music Organization "Ear To Mind" Asks David Karlins To Take Their Vision From Mind To Screen

David Karlins and Ear to Mind co-director Inhyun Kim meeting in the conference room.

Since its beginnings in 2010, contemporary music nonprofit Ear to Mind has relied on a typical cookie cutter blog-style website as their online home. It did the job, but with an upcoming concert at illustrious Carnegie Hall, the organization decided they'd like something more original and reflective of their adventurous artistic identity. For that they turned to 3rd Ward Web Design teacher and prolific author David Karlins.

"They felt it was essential to create a Web presence more in keeping with the creative energy and spirit of what they are all about," Karlins says. He met up with Ear to Mind co-director Inhyun Kim and worked to create an online destination that achieves just that.

"A substantial focus of my Web consulting involves working with artists, musicians, performers and particularly venues, organizations that promote the arts," Karlins says. "While my main activity is writing books and developing online teaching materials for publishers like Dummies and teaching material for Adobe, I do keep my fingers on the pulse of cutting edge Web challenges by continuing to do design projects."

Karlins' upcoming book is Web Sites for Dummies All-in-One. Here at 3rd Ward he teaches classes including Web Design with Adobe Creative Suite (both regular and condensed) and Intermediate Web Design // CSS3 and loves soaking up our positive vibes. "My meetings with the principles and people involved at 3rd Ward allow us to absorb and bounce off the diverse activity and creative energy here, and in turn feed into my work on books, my live and online classes, and the teaching materials I create here," he says.

The Ear to Mind Carnegie Hall concert that prompted Karlins' design work happens on April 19 and will feature pianist award-winning Jenny Q Chai playing a variety of music, including the world premier of a new composition by Inhyun Kim.

-- John Ruscher