Haiga Duo

About the Haiga Duo

The Haiga Duo is a joint venture created by Jason Chen [piano and accordion] and Eric Hollander [viola and poetry]. Jason and Eric have been performing together across the United States since 2011. The duo is most interested in adapting literary and poetic forms into musical compositions. Our recent projects include a musical Renku, a collection of prayers, and an exploration of the memoir form. Some past projects have had to do with the procedural intricacies of reading/performing musical notation.

Between the two members of the Haiga Duo, extensive scholastic and immersive experience in poetics and music has kindled an intense desire to reveal the inner core of what is foreign art for both. We have conducted a significant amount of research on traditional Japanese form poetry, American folk music, historical accordion folklore and testimony, and many other crevices of the casual regions of music and poetry. In addition, we have participated in several prestigious contemporary music programs, including the Lucerne Festival Academy, Gamper New Music Festival, BANFF, and more. Recently, we were selected as Wildacres Artists in Residence as a composition/performance duo.

What to Expect

Our current project is centered around the theme of ‘memoir’. We are gathering memories from various members of specific communities and codifying their responses into a piece of performative art [spoken word/poetry with music]. This is still a work-in-progress; we hope to continue collecting more ‘accordion stories’ or memories from anyone willing to share!