New CD project addressing world issues features Randolph music professor

Emily Yap Chua

Randolph music professor Emily Yap Chua is featured on the newly released CD, Preach Sister, Preach.

Chua was the pianist for the project, which was partially funded by a grant from Indiana University’s New Frontiers in the Arts & Humanities Program. She partnered with soprano Katherine Jolly in recording the album. Jolly, formerly on the music faculty at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is now a voice professor at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and has performed at Randolph multiple times as part of the College’s Guest Artist Recital Series. The album also features works by rising composers Evan Williams, Katherine Bodor, and Evan Mack.

“Throughout the rehearsal and recording process, there was a lot of dialogue about how to best marry the vision of each composer’s work with the individual artistic and technical strengths of the performers,” Chua said. “That collaborative process was fundamental to the musical integrity of the final product.”

Several tracks on the album bring attention to national and international issues, including climate change and women’s rights. The album also pays homage to notable women with text and quotations from Emily Dickinson and Simone de Beauvoir to Tina Fey and Ellen DeGeneres.

“The three composers demonstrate a wide range of style and genre in the works recorded,” Chua said. “I think the contemporary nature of the disc—the texts and the composers—will make this an extremely appealing experience for all our listeners.”

This is not the first time Chua has partnered with musicians from across the nation to record a CD. She also collaborated with pianist Nicholas Ross to produce A Piano Odyssey in 2008, featuring compositions of Kent Holliday.

The new CD, Preach Sister, Preach, is available for purchase here, and a free Spotify single is available here.