Microgrant Recipient: Aidan Yu Hosts Fairytale & Poem Concert

Last December, Aidan Yu (ARAD ‘25) hosted the Fairytale & Poem concert at Milbank Chapel, Teachers College, Columbia University, with support from the ARAD 2023 Fall Microgrant Program. Read and learn more about his experience!

​​By presenting a concert of newly-formed works infused with cultural elements, we provide a performance opportunity that celebrates the rising generation of musicians, evokes awareness of our dualities and differences, and embraces the harmony of our individualities. 

The Fairytale & Poem concert consists of two parts. The Fairytale represents the first half, where powerful wind from the Balkan and dramatic stories from the Middle East brought Western cultures to the elegant Milbank Chapel. The two musicians who played this part were Aleksandar and Lora. 

Aleksandar Hadžievski is a Serbian pianist and composer based in New York City. He studied under Nina Svetlanova at the Manhattan School of Music and later graduated with honors from the Mannes School of Music in 2022 under Vladimir Valjarevic. He is pursuing a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at Mannes School of Music under the tutelage of Vladimir Valjarevic.

Lora Al-Ahmad is a pianist and composer from Sofia, Bulgaria. She graduated with honors from Mannes College in New York City, earning a BM degree in Piano Performance, a Double Major Master’s degree in Piano Performance and Composition, and a Professional Studies Diploma in Composition. Her piano studies were under the guidance of Pavlina Dokovska and Vladimir Valjarevic, while she studied composition with Lowell Liebermann.

In the second half, the Poem starts a journey to the East from the “Wedding” Cantata by J.S. Bach to the “Yellow Bird” 黄鹂, composed by Zhou Tian. This part of the concert not only presented the brilliance of Eastern cultures but also showcased the eligibility of our musicians to play music in very different styles. Pianist Manqing Bian is a current Teacher’s college student for M.A. in Music Education. Her music partner, Runyu Feng, is a soprano and dancer currently based in Montclair, NJ, working on her project “Illustrating Beauty,” which combines Western and Chinese dance and music. Our performance philosophy is to spread love and compassion using our music and dance as a medium and art across time, space, and culture as our stage.

The initiation of the concert was like a big boom taking place in our minds. Astonished by the diversity of our repertories, the Fairytale & Poem team members felt it was necessary to bring our music to more people, especially to diverse communities based in New York City. As an arts administrator, it’s my duty to get my musicians a stage and more exposure and, more importantly, present the arts to the public. 

We soon decided to hold the concert at the elegant Milbank Chapel, which has a perfect acoustic design and a traditional layout for chamber music. Thanks to the Arts Administration program and the Teachers College, the Fairytale & Poem concert was honored enough to be sponsored by the ARAD Microgrant. 

Under the support of the ARAD program and other individuals/groups, the Fairytale & Poem concert was successfully held on December 7^th at the Milbank Chapel. We received approximately 35 guests, including friends, students, professors, and individuals from other campuses. 

We are also grateful for all the encouragement we received after the concert: our first funding from another organization, in-kind donations from students at Mannes, connections, and potential cooperation opportunities with more composers, among many other incentives.

We expect to produce the second Fairytale & Poem concert in the Fall 2024 semester and invite more performing artists with more diverse artworks. We will continue to build the stage for audiences to appreciate different kinds of arts and for performing artists to showcase their virtuosities.