A body of contemporary music that often falls under the rubrics of "East-meets West," "East-West Confection," and "cross-cultural synthesis," has emerged as a distinctive genre in contemporary music. Western composers, notably John Cage, Lou Harrison, Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and others have sought to integrate specific aesthetics, principles, and/or sound systems derived from Asian traditions. In tandem with their Western counterparts, East Asian composers such as Toshiro Mayuzumi, Toru Takemitsu, Joji Yuasa, Chou Wen-Chung, and Isang Yun, among others have experimented with infusing Asian elements into their compositions. Their efforts, a reaction to those who have mechanically incorporated Asian materials, signify a new aesthetic consciousness. In spite of the differences in intent and motivation, both groups of composers have striven to interpenetrate East Asian and Western musical resources according to their own sensibilities, aesthetic goals, and ideological stances. Relying on discourses of interculturalism, hybridity, identity, and globalization in locating the various subject positions, this book explores how composers and musicians have redefined the cultural spaces and geographic locations of art music today.

Yayoi Uno Everett is Assistant Professor of Music at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a native of Yokohama, Japan and holds a Ph.D. in Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music. Her current research focuses on interculturalism and new works for gagaku. Besides her research on cultural hybridity, she has published articles on music by various postwar composers including Tôru Takemitsu, Yoritsune Matsudaira, Makoto Shinohara, Elliott Carter, Lou Harrison, and Louis Andriessen. She has received grants from the Bogliasco Foundation, Asian Cultural Council and the National Endowment of the Humanities.