Jen Shyu – composition, text*, voice, gayageum, Taiwanese moon lute, piano, movement, raw video footage
Nana Dakin – director
Layale Chaker – violin, voice, movement
Alexandria DeWalt – flute, voice, movement
Melanie Dyer – viola, voice, movement
Elizabeth Kate – cello, voice, movement
Lesley Mok – drums, voice, movement
Haruna Lee – writing doula
Soomi Kim – choreographer
Laura Sofía Pérez – projection design
Eric Cheng – photography and iceberg video
Jamie Chen – stage manager
Melyanet Suarez – digital program design
The Jazz Gallery staff – lighting & sound
*Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra” from the Rig Veda, 7.59.12, as sung by Nilam Shah
*Balla Balla Ballerino – music & lyrics by Lucio Dalla, arr. Jen Shyu

Fertile Land, Fertile Body

Fresh off her Rome Prize fellowship in 2025, Jen Shyu returns to TJG after 2 years to present an in-progress edition of her epic project Fertile Land, Fertile Body, a multilingual ritual opera comprising ancient and original music, dance, and projection, exploring the loss of mother, loss of motherhood, and human-caused environmental toxicity and genocide’s effects on climate change and our fertility. This chamber ensemble, including Shyu as composer/librettist/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist plus women and nonbinary vocalist-instrumentalists who double as choir, will use choreographed movements to express how overcoming barrenness in both land and bodies are intertwined.

Guggenheim Fellow, Rome Prize Fellow, USA Fellow, Doris Duke Artist, Fulbright scholar, vocalist-composer-multiinstrumentalist-dancer Jen Shyu was born in Peoria, Illinois, from Taiwanese and East Timorese immigrants. She’s performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and speaks 11 languages. She has performed with Sumi Tonooka, Terri Lyne Carrington, Nicole Mitchell, Reggie Workman, Kenny Barron, Bill Frisell, and produced 8 albums and single as leader, on NY Times, Nation, NPR, etc. best-of lists. She’s produced 3 solo shows, including Solo Rites: Seven Breaths directed by Garin Nugroho; and Nine Doors and Zero Grasses commissioned by John Zorn. A Steinway Artist, Jen is Co-Founder-President-CEO with Sara Serpa of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³).