Karen Yu

Percussionist, experimental sound artist and interdisciplinary arts researcher, Karen Yu uses sound-making as a medium to question and subvert the relationship between audience and performer. In explorations of new possibilities in performing arts and concert culture, she has collaborated with a number of artists and musicians, including Ken Ueno, Philippe Leroux, Michael Pisaro, Zihua Tan, Vinko Globokar and Jean-Pierre Drouet. 

Her works were most recently presented at Sound Forms 2019 & 2020 (Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong & Tai Kwun Contemporary), commissioned by and presented at Sonic Ecology Digital Conference (Hong Kong New Music Ensemble) and Creation for Freespace: Choreography and Composer Lab (Hong Kong West Kowloon Cultural District Freespace). She has performed for Hong Kong Sinfonietta@Artistree “Notating Beauty That Moves”, the Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion (Hong Kong and Montreal), Tai Kwun, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Transplanted Roots Percussion Research Symposiums (Guanajuato, Brisbane, Montreal), Biennale Montreal and SoundSCAPE Festival. 

Formerly an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and a fellow at the Blackbird Creative Lab, Yu is also the co-founder and director of the chamber percussion group The Up:Strike Project. Karen Yu obtained a Bachelor and Master of Music from McGill University, Canada, where she was a Schulich Graduate Fellowship holder.