Hesterian Musicism is the creative process through which Karlton Hester's compositional and performance style merge to give rise to aesthetic environments where other musicians, kinetic and visual artists, and poets can meet to produce new art forms through imaginative effort. Its philosophical basis involves an intrinsic freedom of expression, focused and disciplined spontaneity, and a structural basis that explores the creative components of diverse sources from the whole earth. Collaboration, therefore, is an important aspect of Hesterian Musicism on all levels of engagement. Inspiration, source materials, thematic resources, timbral imprints, and spiritual influence can be derived from multidisciplinary aspects from any region of the world and can involve any combination of artistic traditions. It is the individual skill and imagination, through which artistic components are explored and developed, which demonstrate that past traditions are stepping stones to future creations (not ends in themselves).
For this program, the musicians will perform several of Karlton Hester’s expressive works engaged in themes of creative freedom, Pythagorean theorems, string theory, the legacies and poly-mathematical work of trumpeter Donald Byrd, as well as an exploration of the philosophical/creative thought of the legendary progenitor of the Afrofuturist perspective, Sun Ra. Alongside these, works by Hwayoung Shon and Byungki Hwang drawing from traditional Korean music start a dialog with Hester’s work that leads to the transcontinental collaboration of Miseon Jeong’s Fusion Soul, which dramatizes the fusion of jazz and traditional Korean music into one soul.
This performance is sponsored in part by Arts Council Korea.