INTERWOVEN is a New York-based intercultural ensemble that celebrates and integrates traditional Asian music and Western classical music through performing, commissioning, and recording contemporary works. Exploring the time-honored soundscapes of Asia and Europe, the ensemble weaves together musical and artistic threads that represent diverse origins, traditions, and materials to create something holistic. By intertwining unique Asian perspectives and aesthetics into its artistic and organizational work, INTERWOVEN encourages union between various American communities through the Asian culture’s emphasis on organic inclusion and harmony; a principle that is needed in this time of division. 

The ensemble made its debut in October 2021 at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City, with the funding from the City Artist Corps Grant. Since then, the group demonstrated its versatility in various venues: at an outreach concert for Chinatown Arts Week (NYC), an accessible program filled with Asian folk music and European classical repertoire; at Kansas University Asian Classical Music Initiative, selections of 20th and 21st century multicultural works by composers of AAPI heritage and their allies, and; at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, cutting-edge, avant-garde compositions with electronics and video projections. INTERWOVEN is one of the featured artists at the Center for Remembering and Sharing in New York City during the 2022-23 season, presenting its original series “AMI” at the prize-winning White Room near Union Square.  In October 2023, the ensemble made a special appearance at the Buddha Room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Founder and GRAMMY Award winning violinist, Keiko Tokunaga, brings together seasoned musicians who have been heard in major halls, such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Radio City Music Hall, and their equivalents in Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. Members of INTERWOVEN are passionate advocates for the importance of music in social, personal, and political developments, and devote much of their time to teaching and educational outreach. The ensemble collaborates with educational institutions such as the Longy School of Music to promote the creations of multicultural musical compositions, and to encourage active dialogues between students, faculty and the community on socially crucial topics such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the music field.