Jeff Chan & Suwan Choi

Saturday, September 23

TIME: 5:00-6:00pm

VENUE: augustana lutheran church. 5500 south woodlawn ave.

Jeff Chan wearing glasses and a green short sleeve button down shirt and playing the saxophone against a black and blue background, followed by an image of Suwan Choi wearing a white tunic and playing a red Korean percussion instrument against a blac

Jeff Chan wearing glasses and a green short sleeve button down shirt and playing the saxophone against a black and blue background, followed by an image of Suwan Choi wearing a white tunic and playing a red Korean percussion instrument against a black background.

Jeff Chan & Suwan Choi

Chicago artists Jeff Chan and Suwan Choi have created a duet language that is informed by music practices including jazz, new/creative music, free improvisation, and traditional Korean music. Utilizing a broad, multi-instrument palette, together they deliver a dynamic and nuanced presentation, melding their influences to create music that is simultaneously rooted in and branching from tradition. The result is a distinctive expression of the Asian American experience through music.

Korean percussionist and experimental musician Suwan Choi has been performing and teaching Korean traditional music for more than 20 years. Since moving to Chicago in 2015, he has held a key role in raising the profile of the Korean performing arts in the city, as well as training a new generation of Korean Americans in this cultural form. He has also established himself as a leading practitioner of Korean drumming, performing at Harris Theater, Millennium Park, the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, and Constellation, as well as at other venues, universities, and events across the U.S. He currently serves as Artistic Director for the Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago and was the recipient of a 2023 Illinois Arts Council Agency Individual Artist Grant.

Multi-instrumentalist/composer Jeff Chan has been an active contributor to the Asian American artistic community and the broader musical landscape since moving to Chicago in 2002. He is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the Asian American experience through music and has worked with many artists including Francis Wong, Tatsu Aoki, Jimmy Ellis, Ari Brown, Mwata Bowden, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Ameen Muhammad, Avreeayl Ra, and Yoko Noge. With a discography of more than a dozen recordings as leader, sideman, and producer, Chan has performed extensively in the Chicago area, across the nation, and in Europe, and has received awards from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Arts Midwest, Meet the Composer, and the San Francisco Arts Commission.

The musicians:

Jeff Chan - woodwinds

Suwan Choi - Korean percussion