Commissioned by Deus Ex Musica as a winner in their 2020 Composition Competition

Completed 03/01/2021
Recorded 12/22/2021 by Megumi Stohs Lewis

The Psalms have always held a great degree of significance to me, both as a Christian and as an artist. Much has been written about their beautiful composition and their timeless imagery, but beyond the Psalms’ considerable literary beauty and their theological profundity, I have always been drawn in by their honesty. For such early literature, these songs are remarkable for their frank depictions of their respective authors’ emotional states, whether ecstatic joy (as in Psalm 126), deep contrition (Psalm 51), assured hope (Psalm 23), or meditative ponderance (Psalm 39). The emotional nakedness of the Psalms always reminds me of God’s pursuit of our hearts: He would know us in our truest selves, rather than our constructed, ‘religious’ selves. It was with this posture that I began to write A Mere Breath, a reflection on Psalm 39. 

Psalm 39 feels uniquely ahead of its time, prefiguring the book of Ecclesiastes with its existential themes of ephemerality and uncertainty. Its surprising emotional complexity is perhaps what has made it so enduringly appealing, appearing in pieces from Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem to Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms. I found myself identifying with the Psalm thanks in no small part to the time in which I had begun writing my piece: as the world continued to square off against the Covid-19 pandemic, I was applying to more school and was not altogether sure where I would be the next year. I identified with the Psalm’s thinly veiled frustration and confusion that stemmed from recognizing the sheer smallness of humanity in the face of an eternal God. 

A Mere Breath casts the violinist as psalmist, contending with the depths and scale of the eternal. Wispy and capricious, the violin part gradually unfolds the piece’s main theme, a plaintive, Hildegard-like hymn of simple beauty. Pursuing it across a variety of figurations, the soloist eventually takes hold of the melody with relief, swells in thanksgiving, and ultimately vanishes into nothingness.

A Mere Breath, for violin and electronics

"Like the ouroboros, the end marks the beginning."

Making its Hertz Hall debut!!!
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Violin I: Yun-Fan Wu
Violin II: Josh Davis
Viola: Kaito Church
Cello: Emile Serper
Piano: Kevin Yang

📷: Matthew Adrineda

Kin, for piano quintet

Composer Jean Ahn reflects upon compositional life after having lived in the United States for 2 decades. Listen to our conversation about her piece Froggy Froggy based on a Korean folk tune. This version of Froggy Froggy for solo viola gets its premiere on March 30, 2024!!! And you get to hear her singing it during our chat! Tickets for the Season 49 Concert 2 here: https://www.dinosaurannex.org/event-details/new-asian-american-voices

Jean Ahn on Froggy Froggy: "I was free from judgment … I was able to explore.”

Water Prism for orchestra

Performance Note

This piece is open to any instrument (or instruments) with piano. The improviser(s) will ornament the piano while  piano plays six-note chord in a very regular rhythm. The ornaments from other improviser(s) gradually get active and explode at the coda.

Heather Frasch, flute/ Jason Levis,  marimba/Myra Melford, piano 1/ Jean Ahn, piano 2
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Salt for improvisors

earplay, live at Herbst Theater, San Francisco 2005

from the ashes

from the ashes (2005)

live improvisation (san francisco, 1999)
performed using:
roland A80
oberheim matrix 6r
yamaha tg-77
waldorf microwave xt
ensoniq dp4
mackie 1404 vlz

Salt for improvisors

Jean Ahn

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