This piece was written for the Binghamton University Word of Mouth collaboration in 2024. Special thanks to Joseph Heiland for letting me set his poem! 

Music: Wen Wen Van Der Wende
Words: Joseph Heiland 
Recording Engineer: Nicky Radford 
Tenor: Liam Flatley 
Piano: Joseph Kosik
Cello: Nathan Slisher 

Open House (2024)

Wen Wen Van Der Wende (They/He) is a queer, Chinese-American composer, vocalist, and multimedia artist whose music conveys both visceral turmoil and a love for the natural world. A devotee of unconventional beauty, they balance brightly-colored destruction with a grounded sense of sincerity. Recent projects include “a tired sun” for double choir, the purple-splattered, electroacoustic nightmare “veronica,” and Amy’s Third Most Emotionally-Distressed Roommate, an experimental breakup album. Wen Wen is the founder and co-organizer of an LGBT+ concert series hosted at The Hartt School, University of Hartford. When not composing, they like to analyze popular media, crochet ugly sweaters, and converse with their menagerie of adorable, oddly-named plushies.