Join us for an evening of heartfelt connection and creative exchange as Shunyu Huang, former Story Parlor Artist-in-Residence, invites a guest from Asheville’s BIPOC community—who, in turn, brings a friend of their own—to the table.
The first half of the evening is a relaxed roundtable conversation where the trio, over a shared pot of tea, explores the “five flavors of life”—sourness, sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, and spiciness. Through curious and thoughtful questions, they uncover the common threads that connect us all.
In the second half, Min Xiao-Fen (pipa, ruan, sanxian, voice ) Mari Ohta (koto and voice) together as "Asian Soundscape" will cultivate an unforgettably dynamic and interactive performance with us.
This intimate and dynamic event continues the work of Shunyu’s residency, Memory Quilt, celebrating connection, creativity, and the rich tapestry of our shared humanity.
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Shunyu Huang
Shunyu Huang 黃順玉 is a martial artist, photographer, culture educator and poet, born and raised in the coastal city Zhuhai in southern China.Shunyu seeks to connect people through weaving our unique yet common stories and culture into a fabric. She is a frequent lecturer at UNCA, AB-TECH where she shares Chinese culture through literature, tea, and calligraphy.
In the summer of 2023, she became the first Chinese artist-in-resident at Story Parlor, where she gathered the community to share their memories through the five senses.
In January 2024, Shunyu created the first Asian Culture Festival in Asheville. She believes that in the art that we manifest and share, we can see the humanity that we have in common, despite our differences.
Five Spice is a new project which sprouted in Shunyu’s daily cooking and conversing in the kitchen, with hopes to cultivate expressions of curiosity amongst different people.
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Min Xiao-Fen
Few artists have done more to both honor and reinvent the 2,000-year history of the pipa than soloist, vocalist, and composer Min Xiao-Fen. Classically trained in her native China, she served as the principal pipa soloist for the Nanjing Traditional Music Orchestra and was an in-demand interpreter of traditional music before relocating to the United States. There, she forged a new path for her instrument alongside leading figures in modern jazz, free improvisation, experimental, and contemporary classical music. NPR Weekend Edition lauded Ms. Min as “one of the world’s greatest virtuosos,” while JazzTimes hailed her as “a pioneer in integrating her ancient instrument with modern jazz and improvised music.”In 2023, Min received a prestigious commission from the Smithsonian Institution to compose scores for Romance of the Fruit Peddler and Romance of the Western Chamber, two historical Chinese silent films from the 1920s. She premiered the works with percussionist River Guerguerian on May 6 at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Both scores were recorded and released under the title Metta, with a live performance at the Big Ears Festival on March 23 2024. Min was also honored as a GrammyU Mentor from 2023 to 2025. She currently lives in Asheville. For more information, visit www.minbluepipa.com.
Mari Ohta
Mari Ohta was born in Winston Salem, NC. while her father taught sociology at Wake Forest and Salam College. Her family moved back to Japan and she was raised in the suburbs of Osaka prefecture. When she was 18 years old, She came to the United States to attend Warren Wilson College. She met her husband, Bill, and they resided in the mountains of Western North Carolina and raised two sons, Taro and Shogo.She started to play the koto in 2013 when she met a group of Japanese women and one of them was a koto teacher. Since then, Mari has had three teachers, sometimes traveling 2.5 hours each way to play a duet or to have a lesson. The sound of the koto keeps her connected to her heritage.
Mari enjoys a variety of music genres. She enjoys the traditional tunes as well as the more original experimental style of koto where the old meets the new.
When she's not playing the music, Mari spends mornings with the young children at her outdoor preschool. She is also a cook at Camp Celo. Mari enjoys gardening, knitting, and playing soccer.