Inside The Production of UNACCOMPANIED By Leo Eguchi
Photo Credit: Justine Cooper
In anticipation for the opening of UNACCOMPANIED, we asked the show’s curator and performer, Leo Eguchi, to tell us more about the process of developing the project.
What inspired you to develop this project?
Being a mixed-race, first-generation American from a small midwestern town, I have always led a split screen sort of existence. You learn early to pick up on how someone else views you… as white or otherwise. Regardless of how you view yourself, you get a window into what privilege does (and doesn’t) look like, and that provides a lot of perspective.
Around 2015, as anti-immigrant hate began to surge around the country, the whole issue weighed heavily on me. These are people… just like me, and my dad… but also my wife, my daughter, you. How can we treat each other so differently? And in our polarized society, with so many entrenched obstacles to meaningful discourse, how can we even start a conversation about how to recognize our common humanity? I wondered if music might be able to help. Maybe it could be a vehicle to hear each other and explore what we share, without our usual talking points.
How did composers react when you first proposed this project?
It’s funny - I called each of the composers to talk it over, and we had really nice chats and great conversation around the issues… and then when I finally laid out the proposal, each of them went totally silent on the line for a while. With the first couple of calls I was worried that maybe I had said something aggravating, but I came to realize that maybe it was that the question of how one’s “American-ness” sounds had some potency. Each of these composers is a busy, in-demand artist with an incredible mastery of their craft, but pushing them to do a little digging into their identity seemed to feel a little dangerous… in a good way. After the silence, each said that they would need a little time to think on this and that they were really glad to be involved. The resulting pieces are each so thoughtful and honest - I am so glad for each of their involvements as well.
How has collaborating with these composers and rehearsing these pieces felt, and what do you hope audiences will take away from UNACCOMPANIED?
Each of the artists involved is very different, yet each has approached the project with an artistic honesty that is so inspiring. As the drafts of the pieces have rolled in, I have been taking time with each composer to go over the draft together over zoom, and really dig into the score. We've been doing the sessions on zoom and recording them to share with anyone interested in the working process. This workshopping time has been so great… we talk nuts and bolts about specific techniques in the musical score, but we also can speak of context, inspiration and imagery.
I love that chance to get people talking about their stories, and in this case the composers' identities, lived experiences, family histories, grandma’s recipes all went into this project. Each is so unique, but has deeply relatable experiences that can connect us and help understand each other better. My hope is that by putting some of that into music, we can learn to avoid some of our usual political tribalism, and just listen better.
UNACCOMPANIED is a Classical Music performance curated and performed by Leo Eguchi, featuring eight short new works for solo cello which explore personal stories of immigration and American assimilation. Each of the commissioned works is by immigrant and first-generation American composers tasked with tackling the question, “What does your American-ness sound like?”