Transitioning Out from a Period of Grief and Healing

Han Chen speaks with composer, improviser, and pianist Jonah Haven about the process of writing bent kiddo, a new solo piano work that was co-commissioned by Han Chen and Metropolis Ensemble.

Haven notes that he likes to become immersed in a performer’s sound when he writes music, gleaning every detail of how they like to play their instrument. He recalls that as he composed bent kiddo, during a period of transition in his life, he studied Han Chen’s virtuosic performances at The Cliburn International Piano Competition.

As the two musicians talk, they unpack the meaning behind Haven’s work and trace his musical journey from a childhood of writing music with his composer mother to the present. At points, their conversation diverges from music, touching on topics such as Haven’s queerness, biracial identity, and childhood growing up in rural Ohio to illuminate how those experiences come to inform the music we hear.

Performance of bent kiddo was recorded on Dec 22, 2021, in New York.