European premiere

MIZU, formerly known as Issei Herr, builds vast soundscapes through the interplay of acoustic instrumentation and electronic experimentation. Inviting listeners to traverse her rich universe through cinematic storytelling, MIZU’s stratiform compositions are damaged yet unbroken, offering catharsis in both live and recorded formats. Careening sonic flourishes are underlined by droning loops full of rattling texture and tender orchestral currents. Understanding oneself is a lifelong pursuit. MIZU, in an interview with I Care If You Listen says of her debut Distant Intervals (2023) that preparing its songs felt like making diary entries, how they were “this safe space where I could explore my own identity and my musical identity and how those were linked together.” Queer life-making often means discovering and rediscovering yourself in a multitude of ongoing ways. In the aforementioned interview, MIZU mentions the link between her musical path – from Juilliard-trained cellist to experimental composer and performer – and her transforming sense of self as a trans woman; the invigorating and renewing facets of her music feel full of a queer, generative sort of possibility. The meditative cyclical melodies of MIZU’s songs allow for listeners to wander the borders of their own sense of self – this is the gift of her compositions. Although her musical universe is vast and wide-reaching, it is in the congregation of harmonious sounds that MIZU’s music elicits an immense feeling of closeness.

*This is a seated concert