Dr. April Mok

Dr. April Mok is a composer whose work typically displays an affinity for highly linear/contrapuntal textures and a mixture of tonality, polytonality, and atonality that lends it a pliable contextuality. She often incorporates existing music of widely divergent styles in her projects as models, inspirations, and guides to sensibility, notable examples being the music of Fats Waller and Nirvana. Her music has been featured at festivals such as the Electronic Midwest Music Festival, Third Practice Festival, soundSCAPE Festival, Santa Clara New Music Festival, and Chicago Composition Festival, as well as at the conference of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States. Mok's music has been performed by many artists, including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Matt Gould of Duo 46, Eighth Blackbird, and the Pacifica String Quartet. She previously taught theory and composition at Xavier University of Louisiana. At Principia, she teaches music theory and composition as well as Music of the World.

Scholarly Interests

Mok’s scholarly interest lies in reinstating beauty as the principal objective in music by establishing fresh perspectives and novel associations so as to redefine it. She also harbors an interest in mobilizing the collaborative potential between music and other disciplines of art and in the social dimension of such an endeavor.

Contributions to Field

Mok’s Better Angels, a major work for voice, large ensemble, and electronics, was sponsored by the Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture. Taking the intersection of eras embodied by two political texts central to American history as its generative idea, the work serves as critical dialog with U.S. culture and history, a vehicle for cultural ethos, and an embodiment of an updated vision of "Americana."

Awards

Clews Center for the Arts residency, La Napoule Art Foundation, France

Memberships and Affiliations

American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers

Publications and Presentations

fantAsia for mandolin and piano, Wolfhead Music