Program Notes and Texts

Performer Biographies

Christopher Yohmei Blasdel lived in Japan for over four decades, studying under Living National Treasure Goro Yamaguchi from 1972 until the master’s death in 1999. In 1982, he received an MFA in ethnomusicology from Tokyo University of the Arts. In his musical activities, Christopher balances traditional shakuhachi music, modern compositions, improvisation and cross-genre work with musicians, dancers, poets and visual artists. Christopher performs around the world and has taught at numerous colleges and universities and organized several world shakuhachi festivals. He presently is an adjunct lecturer at University of Hawai‘i Mānoa Music Department. A listing of his albums can be found at here or www.yohmei.com. He will present a recital to commemorate 55 years of playing shakuhachi at the Honolulu Museum of Arts, Doris Duke Theater on April 12th at 3 PM. For tickets: https://secure.honolulumuseum.org/24510/24511

Jhon Lawrence Bulosan is a Senior Undergraduate Student at UH Mānoa studying Mathematics and Physics with a minor in Music. At the music department, he mainly participates in the UH Choirs, including the Chamber Singers and Concert Choir. Outside of singing, he is also a percussionist in the UH Concert Band and UH Kulintang Ensemble.

Kevin Calamayan is an award-winning percussionist with 11 years of classical training and mastery across the percussion family. He performed at the prestigious Midwest Clinic in 2024 with the Nāulu Winds of the University of Hawai‘i at West O‘ahu, currently serves as principal percussionist at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, and also composes for percussion sections of high school marching bands across O‘ahu. He also teaches privately, sharing his love of percussion and his belief that music is a language of storytelling and connection.

Morgan

Gustavo D’Amico is an award-winning saxophonist, composer, educator and human, from São Paulo, Brazil. His distinctive voice is the result of a creative amalgam of artistic expressions and sound experiences, not resulting from machine algorithms. He has performed and recorded with some of the biggest names of Brazilian and American music including Egberto Gismonti, Alcione, Elza Soares, Monica Salmaso, John Patitucci, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jason Moran and Greg Osby.

Jessica Gacuma-Bonds is an Integrative Mental Health Therapist with a passion for Indigenous Psychology and Sikolohiyang Pilipino. Jessica weaves both worlds as she assists her clients in navigating balance and resonance with their subconscious and living reality. In unison, she integrates movement and breathwork to assist in the healing space.

Aisha-Kamalani Hindley is a pianist whose work bridges classical performance, collaborative piano, and cross-cultural musical traditions. Raised in Japan, she completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she performed extensively in solo recitals, chamber music, and interdisciplinary collaborations with musicians and dancers from diverse backgrounds. She has performed widely in community venues across Oʻahu and remains deeply committed to music as a form of cultural connection and storytelling. She now departs Hawaiʻi to pursue graduate studies in the United States in both piano performance and collaborative piano.

Lorelei Harrel is a music teacher, singer, actress, dancer, and researcher from Frisco, TX. She is arecent graduate of University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa with her MA in Ethnomusicology. She received her Bachelor's degree in Music Education from Texas Woman’s University along with a minor in Education and Musical Theatre. Lorelei is also a practitioner of Indigenous and Folk Philippine dance and music. She is passionate about World Music in classrooms and bringing more Asian women musician narratives to light.

Stacie Hata’s (Kineya Samei) training with nagauta shamisen began in Honolulu at age 15 under Kineya Satoshi and Kineya Satsugiku. She continued her training in Japan under Kineya Sakichi VII, the seventh-generation headmaster of the Nagauta Samon-kai and was granted the natori, professional name, of Kineya Samei in 2008.

Jason Hee is a Hawaii born and raised musician. He graduated from the University of Hawaii in 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts in General Music and Japanese. With a background in horn, he continues to study and perform music based on that experience. He is currently studying the shakuhachi under the guidance of Christopher Yohmei Blasdel. Notable performances on the nohkan include the UH Department of Theater and Dance's production of The Maiden Benten and the Bandits of the White Waves.

House of Gongs is a grassroots movement on a mission to cultivate a Filipino diasporic community that celebrates music, dance, and other art forms by honoring tradition while fostering innovation. Founded on the unceded ancestral lands of the Chochenyo Ohlone people (Oakland, California) by cultural practitioners Ron Querian and Lydia Querian, the organization is rooted in over 20 years of fieldwork in the Philippines. Over the past three years, House of Gongs has expanded its impact in the island of Oʻahu in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, producing culturally significant programs such as FiliRooted; Sakada to Cypher, in partnership with the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts; and Dancing in the Diaspora, in collaboration with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. For more information: https://www.houseofgongs.com/

Kaelyn Howard is an Afro-Filipino vocalist, music educator, and ethnomusicologist whose work connects performance with cultural heritage. She has appeared in productions including Into the Woods, Iolanthe, and performed in chorus with Andrea Bocelli. Her repertoire prioritizes Philippine art song and African American spirituals. A NATS Festival award winner and Orvis Vocal Scholarship Residency recipient, she premiered Dr. Norah Duncan’s arrangement of Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel with the San José State Symphonic Orchestra. She holds degrees from Riverside City College, San José State University, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in ethnomusicology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Denny Landika

Jeanine Bick Markley is a violinist and violist who has combined her interests in music performance, language learning, and intercultural knowledge-building in a variety of unique ways. Originally from midwestern US, she has pursued educational and career opportunities in Finland, Germany, Denmark, and now Hawaiʻi. She is currently completing a master’s degree in Second Language Studies with a Graduate Certificate in Asian Studies while playing as a violin member of the Hawaii Symphony. Photo credit: Raghad Alajlani, III.

Armando Molina Gómez is a theatre practitioner and linguist from Granada (Andalusia, Spain). He is currently pursuing a PhD in Linguistics, with a great interest in the use of theatre for language revitalization and reclamation. Recent stage management credits at UHM include Kaisara, and, most recently Puana, which toured to the 2025 Kia Mau Festival in Pōneke (Wellington), Aotearoa/New Zealand. Photo credit: Hezekiah Kapuaʻala.

Robert D. Morris III is a theatre director, actor, and Butoh dancer currently based out of Honolulu, HI. His work focuses on the integration of traditional Japanese performance traditions with experimental theatre, performance art, and re-interpretations of plays. He is a company member of Theatre Nohgaku, an international group of artists with the shared mission of generating new Noh and globalizing the art. He is the founding artistic director of EnMa (演間) an experimental performance collective, whose goal is the creation of avant-garde work influenced by global traditional performance and music traditions.

Kawayan Bolick Ong is a first year student at UH Mānoa. Originally from Oakland, CA, she studied Philippine dance with the Agos Youth Program of Kularts. She continues to dance as a way to stay connected to her culture and community.

Jessica Pasao grew up in San Jose, California and is currently serving in the US Navy. She is a trauma informed certified massage therapist and reiki energy healer specializing in trauma release. She is also a photographer niched in all love stories. Jessica has been dancing traditional Filipino heritage dances since she was in high school, and during college, performed with Little Manila dance collective.

Anna Quijano is a Hawaiʻi-based performer, choreographer, and educator with over 20 years of training. She holds an MFA in Theatre and Dance with a focus in choreography and a BFA in Dance from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her artistic research centers on creating hybrid movement practices that integrate diverse movement backgrounds within contemporary dance. As an educator, Quijano has served as a graduate assistant and lecturer at UHM, teaching ballet and contemporary, is currently an instructor and choreographer at Rosalie Woodson Dance Academy and Ballet Hawaiʻi, and teaches after-school dance classes at elementary schools across Oʻahu.

Celesdina Reyes is a Filipina, privileged to call Hawai'i home. She's a dancer, also working in the cultural education space.

Eiren Phoebe Ulep Tamayo is a senior at UH Mānoa. Born in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, and raised in Waialua on Oahu’s North Shore, she carries her heritage and her home with her in everything she does. She recently joined the House of Gongs this past January, and it has been such a refreshing, grounding experience for her. She is grateful to be part of a community that celebrates culture through music as she navigates her final year of university.

Lydia Querian is a multifaceted artist known for her work across fashion, dance, music, and art production. She is a Telly Award–winning artist who has made a lasting mark on the cultural landscape of the Filipinx diasporic community by uplifting and advancing pre-colonial Philippine Indigenous living traditions. As a dance artist, Lydia has toured both nationally and internationally with respected companies including Dancing Earth, Kularts, Parangal Dance Company, Fusion Dance Project, and San Francisco Kulintang Legacy. In Hawaiʻi, her community organizing has led to the creation of FiliRooted, the first Filipino American History Month celebration of its kind in the islands. Lydia has also developed original choreographic works in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, most notably through Dancing in the Diaspora.

Ron Querian (Kulintronica) is a musician on a mission to make kulintang a "house"-hold name by fusing this ancient Filipino gong instrument with modern electronic dance music. After a career as a guitar and bass player in the San Francisco art scene, Ron, a young musician, was awakened by a performance at a Philippine Culture Night after participating in a Rondalla workshop, and he found himself unable to turn away from the music of his Filipino ancestors. Under master kulintang artist Danongan "Danny" Kalanduyan’s tutelage, Ron learned of the traditional art of Maguindanaoan kulintang playing, and the potential of kulintang music to reach people on a deep level. Having armed himself with an intergenerational wealth of musical methods and compositions, Ron synthesized a new kulintang music for the next generation, which he called Kulintronica.

Connor Reed

Katrina von Kriegenbergh is excited to return to the stage to celebrate Pilipino arts after retiring from dance 19 years ago. When not at work as an anesthesiologist or interventional pain physician, Katrina, her husband, and son love exploring Oahu looking for new places to hike, swim, and play. She is happy to have found community amongst this talented group of artists.