about
Karen Yu is a percussionist, sound artist, and curator based in Hong Kong whose work explores the intersections of sound-making, audience engagement, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Drawing from her background as a classically trained percussionist, her creative practice centers on improvisation with sound objects and bodily movement, examining how sound weaves people and spaces together through collaborative experiences. She is the artistic director of Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, the co-founder of the chamber percussion group, The Up:Strike Project, and an associate musician of Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.
Her recent commissions include projects for The Darkest Hour at 3am (group exhibition, 2025), UNHEARD sound & music festival at Eaton Hong Kong (2025), Hong Kong Arts Centre & Castlefield Gallery (2022), Axel Vervoordt Gallery Hong Kong (2021), Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (2021), and Freespace, West Kowloon Cultural District (2020). As a performer, Karen has appeared in Ground on Ground (2025), a multimedia performance premiered at the Liveworks Festival at Carriageworks Sydney; manτεία (manteia; 2024), a performance incorporating AI tools as an act of divination directed by Peter Nelson and Roberto Trillo; Since When (2023), a multimedia theatre work by Joyce Tang and Chow Yiu Fai; and Somnium (2022), an installation-opera-trance by Steve Hui (NERVE). Alongside her performance practice, Karen works closely with the creative team at Unlock Dancing Plaza in an ongoing research project investigating scores and notation as mediums and languages for cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Karen has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Seoul Dance Center, and a fellow of the Blackbird Creative Lab. Her performance and installation work have been featured at major festivals and institutions including Biennale Montréal, Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong Sound Forms, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival, IRCAM ManiFeste Academy, Liveworks Festival, Oil Street Art Space, Para Site Hong Kong, Peer-to-Peer: UK/HK, Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion, Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts, Transplanted Roots Percussion Research Symposium, Vertixe Sonora Festivals, West Kowloon Jazz Fest and Popfest, and Music Biennale Zagreb. In 2025, she released Wavelengths, an album on New Focus Recordings in collaboration with Ken Ueno.
As a performer, she has worked with a wide range of artists and composers including Angus Lee, Annika Socolofsky, cehryl, Chan Hing Yan, Charles Kwong, Chow Yiu Fai, Daniel Lo, Gaybird Leung, Germaine Kruip, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Joyce Tang, Ken Ueno, Kenny Wong, Lawrence Lau, Marina Rosenfeld, Michael Pisaro, Omid Asadi, Olivier Cong, Philippe Leroux, Samson Young, Samuel Swope, Simon Steen-Andersen, Steve Hui (NERVE), Tan Dun, Vinko Globokar, Zihua Tan, and hirsk. Her performances and interviews have been featured by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Naxos Records, and Radio Television Hong Kong. Karen has also given guest lectures and talks at a range of institutions including the City University of Hong Kong, Conservatorio Superior de Música de Vigo, Harvard Graduate Music Forum, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, inventor inventor initiative (iii), Lingnan University, the Ubiquitous Music Conference 12 at the University of Saint Joseph Macao, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Hong Kong.
As a curator, Karen leads PLUCK TO SOUND (formerly Sound Forms/HICCUP, co-presented with Tai Kwun Contemporary), the annual sound festival organized by Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong. She has also co-curated UNHEARD, an annual sound and music festival co-presented with Eaton Hong Kong and _dtby, as well as the Noise Fest at Freespace West Kowloon. Committed to deepening public engagement with sound practices, she initiated Push the ENVELOPE, a Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong educational project dedicated to diversifying listening approaches and cultivating awareness of sound-making as an art form, and has published a paper on this initiative with ACC Science and Publishing. Through this and other initiatives, Karen continues to advocate for sound as a social, pedagogical, and creative practice in contemporary culture.
Karen received her Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in Percussion Performance from McGill University, where she studied with Professor Aiyun Huang and Fabrice Marandola, supported by the Schulich Graduate Fellowship. Her artistic research and projects have received support from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music, Media and Technology (CIRMMT), the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, and the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR. She currently teaches at the University of Hong Kong and the School of Theatre & Entertainment Arts at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
Outside of her artistic work, Karen is a dedicated sour beer enthusiast who finds creative resonance in the slow craft of fermentation.
Top Photo by Zoey Chan
關於
余林橞（Karen Yu）是一位居於香港的敲擊樂手、聲音藝術家及策展人，其創作關注聲音實作、觀眾參與與跨領域合作之間的交匯。自古典敲擊訓練出發，她的實踐以聲音物件與身體動作的即興為核心，探問聲音如何在協作的情境中，把人與空間編織在一起。現時她為現在音樂藝術總監、敲擊室樂組合 The Up:Strike Project 共同創辦人，以及香港創樂團聯席樂手。
近年受委約創作的項目包括聯合展覽《The Darkest Hour at 3am》（2025）、香港逸東酒店的 UNHEARD sound & music festival（2025）、香港藝術中心及 Castlefield Gallery（2022）、Axel Vervoordt Gallery Hong Kong（2021）、香港創樂團（2021），以及西九文化區自由空間（2020）。於演出方面，她近年參與的作品包括於悉尼 Carriageworks Liveworks Festival 首演的多媒體演出《Ground on Ground》（2025）、以人工智能作為占卜媒介的多媒體演出《manτεία (manteia)》（2024）、由鄧慧中與周耀輝創作的多媒體劇場作品《從什麼時候開始》（2023），以及許敖山（Steve Hui／NERVE）的裝置／歌劇／迷睡作品《Somnium》（2022）。除了演出，她亦長期參與不加鎖舞踴館的一項持續研究計劃，與創作團隊一同發展以樂譜與記譜系統作為跨界合作的媒介與語言。
余林橞曾於加拿大班夫創意藝術中心（Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity）、Blackbird Creative Lab 及首爾舞蹈中心擔任駐地藝術家。她的演出與裝置作品曾於多個重要藝術節及機構亮相，包括蒙特利爾雙年展（Biennale Montréal）、現在音樂「聲形」聲音藝術節、香港小交響樂團）、香港藝術節、香港亞洲電影節、新視野藝術節、IRCAM ManiFeste Academy、Liveworks Festival、油街實現、Para Site 藝術空間、Peer-to-Peer: UK/HK、Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion、大館、Transplanted Roots 敲擊樂研討會（葡萄牙波圖、澳洲布里斯本、墨西哥瓜納華托及加拿大蒙特利爾）、Vertixe Sonora Festivals、西九爵士音樂節及流行音樂節，以及 Music Biennale Zagreb 等。2025 年，她與作曲家上野健（Ken Ueno）合作，於 New Focus Recordings 發行專輯《Wavelengths》。
於演奏實踐上，她曾與多位藝術家合作，包括 李一韋、Annika Socolofsky、cehryl、陳慶恩、周耀輝、江逸天、鄺展維、盧定彰、梁基爵、Germaine Kruip、Jean-Pierre Drouet、鄧慧中、上野 健 Ken Ueno、黃智銓、劉曉江、Marina Rosenfeld、Michael Pisaro、Omid Asadi、Philippe Leroux、楊嘉輝、Samuel Swope、Simon Steen-Andersen、許敖山（Steve Hui／NERVE）、譚盾、Zihua Tan及 hirsk 等。 她的演出及訪談可於加拿大廣播電台、Naxos Records 及 香港電台重溫。 她亦曾於香港城市大學、西班牙 維哥高等音樂學院、Harvard Graduate Music Forum、香港演藝學院、香港浸會大學、iii – instrument inventors initiative、嶺南大學、澳門 聖若瑟大學之 Ubiquitous 音樂研討會、加州大學柏克萊分校及香港大學等擔任客席講者與工作坊導師。
余林橞過往曾經策劃了共四屆，由現在音樂和大館當代美術館共同呈獻的年度「聲形」聲音藝術節，以及對聲音的好奇心為策展方向的「不同聲藝術節 PLUCK TO SOUND」年度聲音藝術節。作為共同策展人的身分也策劃了共四屆與香港逸東酒店及_dtby合辦的「UNHEARD sound and music festival」和香港西九藝術文化區自由空間的「Noise Fest 2024」。她致力於推廣聲音藝術和聲音藝術教育，最近透過現在音樂策劃了「推信封聲音藝術推廣計畫」，旨在打破傳統觀念，以藝術創作及跨界合作的媒介重新認識聲音，並就此計劃於 ACC Science and Publishing 發表論文。透過上述策展與教育實踐，她持續推動聲音作為一種社會性、教學性與創意實踐的可能。
余林橞畢業於加拿大蒙特利爾麥基爾大學，在 Aiyun Huang 教授及 Fabrice Marandola 教授的指導下獲得她的音樂學士和碩士學位。她在麥基爾大學的攻讀由 Schulich Graduate Scholarship 全額資助，而她過往策劃的創作項目曾經由多個機構資助，包括 The Centre of Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology 、香港藝術發展局、香港創樂團和香港文化體育及旅遊局。余氏現任教於香港大學音樂系及香港演藝學院舞台及製作藝術學院。
除了聲音外，余林橞亦是酸啤酒愛好者。