Comfort Girl: A Song-Cycle Performance

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Museum of Chinese in America is proud to invite Composer/Saxophonist/Singer Stephanie Chou to present her award-winning song-cycle, COMFORT GIRL, inspired by true stories of Asian “comfort women” abducted into sexual slavery during WWII. It is not only a groundbreaking fusion of East-West musical traditions, but has also sparked public dialogue on a formerly taboo subject that still resonates globally for women today. Based on survivor testimony, the jazz-opera/song-cycle gives voice to the 200,000+ women and survivors who were silenced for 50 years. COMFORT GIRL premiered at Joe’s Pub at the Public, and has also been performed in excerpts at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Rockwood Music Hall, Comfort Women Justice Coalition and Yale University. This performance will also feature composer commentaries, an in-depth exploration of how survivor testimony was included in the piece. 

This presentation will not be a full performance of the 90-minute work, but an excerpted performance and discussion.