In response to the coronavirus pandemic and the financial hardship it has placed on many in the arts community, violinist Jennifer Koh launched Alone Together, an online commissioning project that brings composers together in support of the many freelancers among them.

Twenty composers, most of whom have salaried positions or other forms of institutional support to carry them through this challenging time, agreed to donate a new, 30-second micro-work for solo violin, while also recommending a fellow freelance composer to write their own 30-second solo violin work on paid commission from the artist-driven nonprofit ARCO Collaborative. Ms. Koh premiered these donated and commissioned works beginning April 4 through June 13. Each premiere performance is archived on YouTube (/jenniferkohviolin). Related interviews with each composer have been archived on YouTube.

Commissioned Composer — Recommending / Donating Composer

Alone Together

Digital Album | Jennifer Koh [DOWNLOAD FULL BOOKLET] [BUY & STREAM HERE]
arco collaborative Artistic Director Jennifer Koh Receives Best Instrumental Solo Grammy Award for "Alone Together"

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'Alone Together': Hear About The Project Pairing Together Young And Experienced Composers
By Arun Rath, GBH: All Things Considered
"I remember I met Angelica Negron for the first time — on Zoom — learning her piece, and she was telling me how, it was so horrific, she was just watching Instagram videos of these two dogs who play with balloons. And so her piece is called "Cooper and Emma," and it's based on these two dogs who play with balloons on Instagram. So I think we can kind of see how everybody processed that period. And it's helpful, because I think it was — I think, now, looking back, we realize that there are so many systemic inequities, and I think because most of the composers who were commissioned were either people of color, non-binary or non-gender conforming and women, it was interesting meeting them because I could literally see the systemic inequities when we were speaking and learning about what they were going through at that time."

Strings Magazine No. 301, July/August 2021 issue
By Inge Kjemtrup, Strings magazine
"Jennifer Koh's 'Along Together' project captured the pandemic lockdown experience while amplifying underrepresented musical voices"

Pandemic Promotes Unexpected Music Collaborations
By Clay Masters, All Things Considered, January 4, 2021

...MASTERS: In the early days of the pandemic, she [Jennifer Koh] reached out to young freelance composers and asked them to write for solo violin. Koh began premiering the works online from her New York City apartment.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MASTERS: Koh says it was important to help out-of-work musicians and composers.

KOH: "Alone Together" would have never happened had it not been for the pandemic. So I realized that I was really fortunate because I got to know all of these new people and all of these new artists. Granted, it was via Zoom, but at a time of constriction and contraction, I feel lucky that I had this opportunity to expand my group of collaborators....

Best Classical Music of 2020
By Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
A host of livestreamed concerts, the sounds of silence, time-hopping quartets and at-home divas were among the highlights.
[...]
4. Jennifer Koh
A flood of free streams immediately started, mostly from determined musicians playing from their homes. One ambitious and heartening standout was the violinist Jennifer Koh’s “Alone Together” project, for which she played 40 new solo works, half donated, half commissioned, broadcasting them over Instagram from her apartment in Manhattan.
[...]

‘Joy in the Grief’: Musicians Are Making Art in a Pandemic
The New York Times
I feel I’ve gained wisdom from my parents about what it was like to be refugees. But I don’t have the wisdom for this. It feels like everything’s changed.

I came up with this project, “Alone Together.” A lot of composer colleagues have salaried positions. Others are freelance, and vulnerable. I started calling colleagues with positions and asking them for help with our community, asking them to recommend freelance composers to write solo violin pieces. I guaranteed the money personally: $500 per 30 seconds of music, a respectable rate.

I’m going to play the 16 pieces from my apartment, over Instagram, and I’m donating my time and work. All the money is going to these composers.

How one violinist is rebuilding her musical community — one minute at a time
By Michael Andor Brodeur, The Washington Post
"...“I thought, I could spend this period of time being scared, curled up in a ball in the corner of the apartment,” she says. “Or I could spend this time only thinking about my own survival. Or I could spend this time and try to help as many people as I can.”

So Koh got to work on Alone Together, an online performance series for which she hyper-compressed her usual process of discovering composers by asking 21 of them with some level of financial security (be it from salary or grants) to donate a new work between 30 seconds and one minute long, as well as to nominate 21 freelance composers for new commissions funded by Arco..."