Acclaimed pianist and composer Helen Sung, a recently named Guggenheim fellow, has shared the stage with Wayne Shorter, Terri Lyne Carrington and the Mingus Big Band. She makes her Summer Fest debut with Quartet+, a project that celebrates the artistry of female musicians.
Having lived much of her life at the intersection of different worlds—classical and jazz, and as the American-born daughter of Chinese immigrants—Sung’s desire to harmonize these worlds with joy and humanity is at the heart of Quartet+, out this September on Sunnyside Records. Recorded by Helen’s Quartet with special guest Harlem Quartet, Quartet+ vividly blends the colors and textures of the jazz and classical worlds, taking the listener on a ride through musical time and space with new original compositions and arrangements of works by landmark women including Geri Allen, Mary Lou Williams, and Toshiko Akiyoshi.
Releases Sung With Words, a collaborative project with renowned poet Dana Gioia, and Anthem For A New Day, topped the jazz charts. Most recently, she released her vinyl debut, Everybody’s Waltz, a duo recording with trumpeter Marquis Hill.
Sung and her band have performed at major American festivals and venues including Monterey, SFJAZZ, Newport, and Carnegie Hall. Internationally, her “NuGenerations” Project toured southern Africa as a US State Department Jazz Ambassador, and recent engagements include debuts at the London Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Shanghai, Blue Note Beijing, and the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival.
She has served on the jazz faculties of the Berklee College of Music, the Juilliard School, and Columbia University, where she also was the inaugural jazz artist-in-residence, pursuing the intersection of jazz and neuroscience at its prestigious Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute.