Boston-based violist/composer/improvisor Elsie Bae Han seeks out new paths for human connection through music-making. With a focus on new chamber music, Elsie hopes to present accessible concerts and musical resources to the music world as well as the general public. She graduated with a M.M. in Contemporary Classical Music Performance under the tutelage of Lila Brown at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and received her undergraduate degrees at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying under Elizabeth Freivogel and Kerrith Livengood.

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As a composer, Elsie is particularly interested in understanding the mundanities of life through the creation of sound worlds that exist between notes (e. g. the unique technical sounds produced by each instrument or sound-making object). Her music brings to attention the physicality required in producing noise and aims to distort the feeling of the passage of time. It also attempts to express the absurdity that exists in regularity and routine; something that we as humans rely on to guide so much of our lives. 

 

Elsie’s music was featured on the opening concert for the 2021 NASA (North American Saxophone Alliance) Region IV conference. She has also had her music performed at institutions such as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, the University of Arkansas. In 2023, she had the privilege of working with the Horizon Ensemble for her cello concerto act Natural~.

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As a performer, Han seeks out meaningful musical connections and exploratory spaces for sound investigation and experimentation. Always searching for new and interesting sounds, she prioritizes working with living and upcoming composers. Elsie is the violist in the saxophone/viola duo, RE:duo ("Reply") and works as a freelance musician. Elsie has attended festivals such as New Music on the Point, the Castleman Quartet Program, Music from Salem's Viola/Violin Seminar, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival. Her duo, RE:duo, has held fellowship positions at the Cortona Sessions for New Music as well as the Composers' Conference.

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In addition to her creative work, one of Elsie's great passions is creating opportunities for other artists. She is the events coordinator and a founding member of New Music Mosaic (NMM), an organization of young music professionals working for young music professionals. New Music Mosaic offers various different services to music creatives. Our goal is to support people in their creative practices and passion projects. Through NMM Elsie started Timbre, a free, first-come-first-serve, networking project that pairs up composers to performers one-to-one.