Bard College and the Bard College Conservatory of Music 

Sparks & Wiry Cries is a global platform for art song that explores the dynamic union of music and text through publication, performance, and commission of new works, enlivening the practice and experience of artful storytelling within its diverse community.  Falling under the umbrella of Sparks & Wiry Cries are two structures: The Art Song Magazine and songSLAM festival.  The Art Song Magazine provides educative and promotional resources to artists, students, teachers, and enthusiasts while sparking awareness of artistically diverse and abundant song-related initiatives around the world.  The songSLAM festival presents intimate vocal recitals that explore the complex union of poetry and music through collaborative performances, fostering connections within the broader artistic community.

Science Fair made its debut in April 2016 at HERE Theater.  Science, sung: hypotheses, experiments, theories. Science Fair is an original multi-media recital conceived and performed by mezzo virtuosa Hai-Ting Chinn. Culled from current notes in the fields of astronomy, biology, physics, the libretto is the words of actual scientists describing their work. An evolving community of internet collaborators serves as a fact-checking body, forming the first-ever peer-reviewed science recital. Scientific instruments from past and present adorn the stage: wooden chalkboards, brass telescopes, beakers and slide projectors. Chinn has commissioned individual pieces by several contemporary composers, strung together in a song-cycle that is sonically tied to a series of live scientific demonstrations, and uses both elegance and humor to illuminate the processes of science.

The Vancouver International Song Institute was a meeting place for groundbreaking studies in the interpretation and performance of ART SONG. Its diverse programs for young artists, emerging professionals, and career development offered integrated and highly innovative studies in song interpretation,  performance practice,  composition, scholarship, research, and multi-media creation. 2007-2016