The 2022 Grand Prize winners at the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) and Concert Artists Guild (CAG) Victor Elmaleh Competition, Chromic Duo – artists Lucy Yao and Dorothy Chan – blends classical music, toy piano, and electronics into genre-fluid performances and installations. Inspired by the small wonders of the everyday, they compose sound worlds inspired by the multitudes as Third-Culture Kids discovering their voices within the vast Asian-American diaspora.

The Duo’s work is intended to look at the smallest objects of the everyday in order to uncover truths and reimagine how we connect with each other. It often blurs the lines between film, virtual reality, and augmented reality, but the heart of the ensemble’s work remains constant: to create an intimacy and sense of wonder in its music that unravels the story of self-discovery and passion, connecting the dots between grief and joy, belonging and displacement, and creating community in boundary-pushing performances and web-based experiences.