Composer’s Note

The United States is often called “ a nation of immigrants” and rightly so; our history has been defined by people from other places who have risked much to build a new life here Recent discussion of immigration highlights the experiences of foreign nationals who have decided to stay: how they can stay, if their stay is legal, and what the ramifications of their stay are. Less common, however, is the discussion of immigrants’ departure from the home they left behind; few, in other words, speak of immigrants as emigrants.

The Emigrants is a documentary chamber music work for cello, percussion and digital playback. The project began by collecting oral history interviews with the emigrant musician community of New York City’s borough of Queens, one of the most ethnically diverse urban areas in the world. The new work includes these individuals’ voices as part of the score itself, combining spoken word with instrumental music. The goal is to create a work that, through a documentary process, invites a dialogue between the audience, the musicians (both live and recorded), and the stories

I teach at York College, The City University of New York, where our student body includes emigrants from numerous countries and cultures I am an emigrant myself, having left Hong Kong and moved to Boston in 1992 when I was 11 years old As a new student at an American middle school, classical music became a lifeline that bridged the gap between my experiences in Hong Kong and the United states. I started studying the violin in Hong Kong when I was six, and when I started sixth grade upon my arrival in Boston, I immediately joined the school band. Classical music became my shelter from the foreign, and music eventually became my profession in my new homeland. Through The Emigrants, I look to document similar stories from other individuals through a work of documentary music.

- George Lam

Performances and Recording

The Emigrants was first performed at the Queens Museum (New York City) on December 8, 2018, on a program that also featured interviewees Yoko Reikano Kimura, Hikaru Tamaki and Rafael Leal The Emigrants was recorded at Scholes Street Studio, with Zach Herchen as recording engineer, on December 9, 2018

The Emigrants was made possible in part by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Fieldwork for The Emigrants is also supported by a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York