HEARING LOSS: MUSIC FOR RUINS

Hearing Loss: Music for Ruins is a 75-90 minute performance combining spoken-word historical narrative, multimedia, and solo cello to examine how contemporary classical music shapes the ways wartime destruction is heard, understood, and memorialized. The work is a duet between Dr. Andrew Herscher, architectural historian and Professor of Architecture at the University of Michigan, and Deborah Pae. The performance centers on the history of Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor, a neo-Baroque composition written after World War II by a Fascist composer that became a ubiquitous musical accompaniment to images of war ruins. Through narrative, music, and multimedia elements, Hearing Loss: Music for Ruins investigates how music makes grief audible, shapes ethical judgment, and influences political affect and historical memory. Interweaving historical storytelling with works for solo cello, the performance invites audiences to consider how music not only responds to history, but actively constructs the ways in which the ruins of war are witnessed, understood, and remembered. Performances of Hearing Loss: Music for Ruins will take place starting in 2027-2028.

THE AMERICAN MIRROR PROJECT: A CHICAGO MIRROR

In 2025-2026, Deborah Pae and Formosa Quartet partnered with Guarneri Hall NFP and The People’s Music School—Chicago’s largest 100% tuition-free community music school—for a year-long American Mirror Project residency that expanded access to music education for hundreds of students. Culminating in two performances of The American Mirror Project: A Chicago Mirror, the residency explored Chicago’s rich and complex history, culture, and identity through music and spoken word, tracing the city’s origins on Native homelands, its growth through labor, unrest, and migration, its legacy as the birthplace of jazz, blues, gospel, and soul, and the diversity that continues to shape it today.

At its center was the world premiere of ‘every song has an unsung third stanza,’ a new work for string quartet and narration by Chicago-based composer Paul Novak, featuring original texts written and performed by members of the Chicago community.

THE MUSIC OF GEORGE FREDERICK MCKAY

In 2023-2024, the Formosa Quartet recorded four of George Frederick McKay’s reflective, playful, and intricate string quartets with Seattle’s GRAMMY award-winning music director and principal conductor of the Northwest Sinfonia, David Sabee, as producer.

Released on May 2, 2025, by Orchid Classics, this world-premiere recording is the first commercial release of these string quartets — said to be McKay's favorite compositional form — and celebrates the 125th anniversary of his birth. The Formosa Quartet recorded these works at the Bastyr Chapel in Kenmore, WA. Since its release, the album has been broadcast throughout the US, Canada, the U.K., and Japan, and is available in over 236 libraries worldwide.

George Frederick McKay (June 11, 1899-October 4, 1970) was a prolific composer and author, born a year after Gershwin, whose music evokes “…a vigorous blend of influences, including Civil War Era folksongs sung to him by his grandparents; old Fiddlers' Tunes handed down in the family; Northwest Native American Songs and Dances, and Avant-Garde satire from the Seattle urban scene” (George Frederick McKay Estate).

Over his lifetime, he composed several hundred musical works, of which 250 volumes have been published, and taught at the University of Washington, Seattle for 41 years. During his time at the university, he brought talented musicians such as William Grant Still, Béla Bartók and Frederick Fennel to Seattle and among his many students, mentored William Bolcom (Pulitzer prizewinning composer), Goddard Lieberson (President of Columbia Records from 1956-1971 and 1973-1975), and Earl Hawley Robinson (composer, arranger and folk music singer-songwriter of popular songs and Hollywood films). Throughout his lifetime, he also met and conversed with Gershwin, Villa Lobos, and Chavez as part of his University hosting activities, and he mentored and collaborated with John Cage in the late 1930's.

McKay String Quartets No. 1 and 2 were written during the 1930's and Quartets No. 3 and 4 were completed during a sabbatical leave in the 1950's at Seaside Oregon and Balboa Island, CA. McKay String Quartet No. 2 was performed by the Philadelphia String Quartet and it was later broadcast on NBC 1939, performed by players from Toscanini's Symphony of that era.

The Formosa Quartet’s recording is the first commercial release of these string quartets.

THE AMERICAN MIRROR PROJECT: AN YPSILANTI MIRROR

In 2023–2024, Deborah Pae and the Formosa Quartet were appointed the McAndless Distinguished Professors in the Humanities, launching the first large-scale American Mirror Project residency. Engaging more than 14,000 students, faculty, and community members, we invited participants to share "mirror" statements reflecting on the history, identity, and future of their “America,” Eastern Michigan University, and the City of Ypsilanti.

These reflections became the heart of The American Mirror Project: An Ypsilanti Mirror, appearing as a short film and spoken word by students and faculty in the world premiere of Mirror for String Quartet and Narration by Dana Wilson. The performance also brought together collaborators from EMU's humanities, sciences, and performing arts, including the award-winning Forensics Team, the EMU Choir, and Symphony Orchestra.

The second phase expanded the project through open rehearsals, interdisciplinary conversations, and a partnership with EMU's Music Therapy program. Following online and in-person workshops, students composed and arranged their own musical "mirrors," culminating in a public showcase of 20 original works. The project's impact has continued through student-led arts-based research and has been presented at the 2026 Integrated Creative Arts Therapy Conference.

WHAT’S IN YOUR WALLET: MONEY MANAGEMENT 101

On April 28, 2022, MusiCares and Deborah Pae presented a webinar focused on money management for music creatives. This workshop will focus on tangible ways to gauge your emotions around money, assess your financial health, establish and prioritize your financial goals, and utilize techniques to save and manage your money in empowering ways.

FINANCIAL WELLNESS: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN AND MONEY

On April 22, 2022, MusiCares and the Recording Academy Chicago Chapter presented a financial wellness program focusing on the emotional facets of money management and how women in the creative community can build strategies for financial success. Cellist & Associate Professor of Cello at Eastern Michigan University, Deborah Pae, and Dr. Shay Thomas, DMFT, LMFT discussed the psychology of money which impacts areas of financial literacy; myths/beliefs in diverse communities, earning power, and retirement.

EDUCATIONAL RESIDENCIES

Over the course of the last decade, Deborah Pae has given cello and chamber music masterclasses at numerous institutions including the Juilliard School, the University of Michigan, Columbia University, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); University of California, San Diego (UCSD); Rice University, the University of Houston, San Diego State University, Heidelberg University, Eastern Michigan University, Smith College, Longwood University, and Bowling Green State University. Abroad, she has worked with students and scholars from the Taiwan National University of the Arts, Tunghai University, and Academia Sinica.

Many of these residencies involve instrumental and chamber music masterclasses, often including special faculty and student collaborations, open rehearsals, and performances, and workshops / panel discussions on career development, stress management, ‘What it takes to be a 21st Century Musician’, and financial literacy for musicians. 

GOOGLE ARTS & CULTURE

In April 2021, Google Arts & Culture featured the Formosa Quartet’s performance "Double Quartet: Strings and Spaces", which opened the EMPAC: 10YEARS Festival Performances, a three-day festival at Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Viewers anywhere in the world can now visit this newly released online exhibit on Google Arts & Culture and experience all the cross-disciplinary performances spanning music, dance, theater, film, and many experiential spaces in between! 

NLP TRIO’S DEBUT ABLUM | MASTERPIECES AMONG PEERS

In June 2020, the Namirovsky-Lark-Pae Trio released their long awaited and award-winning debut album “Masterpieces Among Peers’ under TYXArts. This album pairs Frank Bridge's Piano Trio No. 2 and Brahms' Trio No. 1 in B major, one of the most beloved and cherished compositions in the piano trio genre. Due to the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and the album’s release coinciding with such a tumultuous time in the world, the trio quietly released the album without making any announcements. In August 2020, NLP Trio’s debut album was awarded the German Record Critics' Award / Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in the category of Chamber Music. Next to the GRAMMY Awards in the United States, the Echo Klassik in Germany, and the ICMA-International Classical Music Awards, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik is one of the most notable honors in Europe. Since then, “Masterpieces Among Peers” has received international acclaim and was named one of the 5 Best Albums of 2020 by German Classical Music magazine Fono Forum.

of radiances blossoming in expanding air

On May 4, 2019, Deborah Pae gave the world premiere of the new cello concerto of radiances blossoming in expanding air by award-winning American composer Jeffrey Mumford with conductor Matthew Szymanski, and the Phoenix Orchestra (Boston). The premiere took place at District Halle. This new concerto was made possible in part by the generous support of the Crickett Foundation.

of radiances blossoming in expanding air has the following instrumentation:  solo cello, strings, single winds, single brass, harp, and one mallet percussion.  The 'cello, which is featured in a series of ongoing developmental relationships with soloists and ensembles within the orchestra, generates motivic and articulative materials which spread throughout its fabric. What results are new timbral combinations, enlarging upon the central voice, thus increasing the number of sonic possibilities in an expansive space. Much of the work's harmonic material is based on the letters of her first name:  D  Eb  Bb  (or)  A  (h).

Deborah has enjoyed a longtime collaboration with Jeffrey Mumford and has performed a number of his works including: variazioni elegiaci  (solo 'cello) (1979-80, rev. 1997), revisiting varizioni eligiaci...once more (2001), and 2 rhapsodies for ‘cello & strings  (2009 – 10, rev. 2013) with David Ellis and the Earth and Air String Orchestra in Cleveland, OH.

CON ANIMA

April 19, 2019, with less than five hours’ notice, Deborah Pae stepped behind the recording booth and served as producer for the recording of Tigran Masurian’s Con Anima for String Sextet by artists Movses Pogossian (violin), Varty Manouelian (violin), Kim Kashkashian (viola), Teng Li (viola), Karen Ouzounian (cello), and Michael Kaufman (cello). 

Conceived jointly by violinist Movses Pogossian and violist Kim Kashkashian on the occasion of Tigran Mansurian’s 80th birthday, the Con anima project brings together a dedicated cast of players to perform the Armenian composer’s chamber music. The emphasis is on newer pieces - only the Third String Quartet dates from the 20th century - but there is a timeless quality to Mansurian’s work, all of which resounds with the spirit of his homeland. The title work ‘Con anima’ is one of six chamber music works by the celebrated Armenian composer. This recording was released on June 11, 2020, by ECM Records and marks Deborah Pae’s debut as a producer.

FORMOSA QUARTET | FROM HUNGARY TO TAIWAN

On January 4, 2019, Deborah Pae and the Formosa Quartet released one of their most imaginative recording projects titled “From Hungary to Taiwan'' (Bridge Records). This album showcases a virtuoso treatment of folk music from Hungary and Taiwan, illuminating many aspects of the two cultures, all within beautifully rendered new classical compositions. Three of the four works on this album are Formosa Quartet commissions, highlighting the ensembles leading role in actively commissioning new works:  Dana Wilson’s Hungarian Folk Songs, Lei Liang’s Song Recollections*, and Wei-Chieh Lin’s Five Taiwanese Folk Songs. Finally, the four work on the recording incorporates arguably, the greatest masterpiece of 20th-century string quartet music — Bartok's incandescent String Quartet No. 4. Winners of both the First Prize and Amadeus Prize at the London International String Competition, the Formosa Quartet was hailed as "spellbinding" by BBC Music Magazine.

(*)This commission has been made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.

EMPAC 10YEARS | DOUBLE QUARTET: STRINGS AND SPACES

On October 11, 2018, the Formosa Quartet’s performance titled Double Quartet: Strings and Spaces opened the EMPAC: 10YEARS Festival Performances, a three-day festival at Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Curated by founding director, Johannes Goebel, and members of the ensemble, the Formosa Quartet led audience members on a unique musical journey through all four state-of-the-art EMPAC venues—the Concert Hall, Theater, Studio 1, and Studio 2—delving into an exploration of physical placement, acoustics, perspective, and ways in which art and space define each other.

THE SCHUBERT COLLECTION

From July 2015 to May 2016, Deborah Pae released The Schubert Collection, a set of live video recordings of works for cello and piano by Franz Schubert. Viewed as one of the most challenging transcriptions for cello and piano and difficult works to capture the expressive simplicity of the composer’s writing, Part 1 of the collection was of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata with pianist Dana Protopopescu (July 27, 2015).

Nearly a year later, Deborah and pianist Misha Namirovsky released Part II of the collection titled Song Without Words on May 30, 2016. Part II included three songs transcribed by Deborah for cello and piano from Schubert’s song cycles: Die schöne Müllerin - Der Müller und der Bach D. 795, Heidenröslein D. 257 (Op. 3/3), and Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen, D.343. 

The Schubert Collection was filmed at Studio Haas Teichen at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapelle in Waterloo, Belgium where Deborah is an Associate Artist in Residence. Part I: The Arpeggione Sonata was filmed and recorded by Luc Baiwir. Part II: Song Without Words was filmed by Wash Productions and recorded by Musiq3 & Outhere Music.

SAINT-SAËNS CONCERTO NO 2

In December 2012, caused by a last-minute personnel change, Deborah Pae was asked to step in on a moment’s notice to record the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 2 in D minor with the Orchestra Philharmonique Royal de Liège under the baton of Christian Arming. Only vaguely aware that there was a second concerto written by the composer rumored to be exponentially more difficult than the famous First Concerto, Deborah seized the opportunity and began learning the piece. In less than two weeks, she memorized the concerto and performed it live with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie in Belgium. Several weeks later, Deborah traveled to the city of Liège where they rehearsed the concerto once with the Orchestra Philharmonique Royal de Liège and recorded the piece the same afternoon. The recording, which became Ms. Pae’s first commercial solo recording, was produced by award-winning producer Aline Blondiau and released by Outhere Records while she was Artist-in-Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapelle. The album has garnered awards and five-star reviews from Diapason D’Or, Klassiek Centraal, and Supersonic Pizzicato.