Violinist, composer, and conductor Jason Kao Hwang stepped onto the Roulette stage at the 2022 Vision Festival to lead a hand-picked improvising string orchestra in performing his powerful statement defying social expectations of orientalism.
Now released as “Myths of Origin,” this sprawling composition confirms is a testament to Hwang’s legacy as one of contemporary music’s most fearless boundary-crossers. He creates chaos through his music, not for the sake of dissonance, but to build order out of it at the end.
From the outset, Myths of Origin positions itself as more than a concert document. Hwang frames the work as a rejection of cultural pigeonholing and reductive “Orientalist” narratives. Instead, he invents a musical language that dissolves distinctions between East and West, with the eerie string harmonics and percussive bursts of “The Collapse of Gravity,” drawing inspiration from the likes of Penderecki.
“Multiply and Rise,” on the other hand, is more representative of the fusion of jazz and classical, notation and improvisation. It’s a powerful, funk-inflected march that brings a dance-floor energy rarely found in art music.
https://jasonkaohwang.com/myths-of-origin
https://jasonkaohwang.bandcamp.com/album/jason-kao-hwang-myths-of-origin
The final movement; “Never Forgotten,” is hauntingly somber, stretching like an elegy and masterfully using silence and space as a musical device. It immerses the listener further and further until at some point the music stops, and you’re only brought out of the reverie by the applause of the live audience.
The power of Myths of Origin lies not just in Hwang’s conception but in the collective he assembled. The strings dominate the soundscape, but the drums add rhythmic volatility while the guitars and bass introduce a diversity of timbres. Individual players shine briefly, but the focus is squarely on group momentum.
This performance succeeds because it is both a bold artistic statement and an emotionally gripping journey. It begins in uncertainty, builds toward collective ecstasy, and closes in reflective quiet.