Jen Shyu
Elliott Carter Rome Prize
September 2, 2024–July 3, 2025
Profession
Composer, Vocalist, Multi-Instrumentalist, Dancer, and Producer
Co-Founder, Co-President, and Co-CEO, Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³), Brooklyn
Project title
Fertile Land, Fertile Body
Project description
Fertile Land, Fertile Body is a multilingual ritual opera comprising ancient and original music, dance, and projection, investigating how human-caused environmental toxicity affects our fertility while sharing stories of struggle and hope from women overcoming or who overcame infertility. The twenty-person chamber ensemble, including Shyu as composer/librettist/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist plus nineteen women and nonbinary vocalist-instrumentalists who double as choir, will use choreographed movements to express how overcoming barrenness in both land and bodies are intertwined.