As part of MUSE’s celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, join MUSE members, supporters, and friends to get to know one another, and have a conversation with contractors from the AAPI community. In addition to hearing from David Lai & Tomoko Akaboshi, part of the event will be spent chatting with other attendees, panelists, and MUSE founding members in small groups.

The first portion of this event will be a conversation with David Lai and Tomoko Akaboshi, two prominent musicians and contractors in the theatre community. Moderated by MD/pianist Cynthia Meng, this conversation will explore the different paths David and Tomo took to step into these positions, as well as the various roles that contractors and music coordinators can play in creating a more equitable workspace.

The second portion of the event will focus on community building – we'll do a form of "speed dating" where you'll get to know the members of our community and share about your own experiences as theatre musicians.

All are welcome.

Some information about our wonderful panelists:

David Lai (Co-President) is an original founder of Park Avenue Artists. David has worked on management teams for a variety of artists including Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Renee Fleming, 2CELLOS, Kate Davis, Ashley Brown, Ryan Silverman, and Eldar Djangirov. A multiple Grammy® award winner, eight time Grammy® nominee, and Emmy® award-winning producer, David's recording credits range from from jazz to classical to pop to Broadway. His Broadway cast albums produced include Hadestown (Grammy® Award), West Side Story (Grammy® Award), The King and I (Grammy® nomination) starring Ken Watanabe and Kelli O'Hara, Evita starring Ricky Martin, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes starring Megan Hilty, South Pacific (Grammy® nomination), Promises, Promises starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth (Grammy® nomination), Bonnie and Clyde, Elf, Wonderland, Grease, The Wedding Singer, an all-star cast album of Allegro, and Spanish cast albums of The Phantom of the Opera and Jesus Christ Superstar. David currently moonlights as Music Director and Conductor for the Broadway company of The Phantom of the Opera. Other Broadway credits as conductor, music coordinator and/or keyboardist include Hadestown, Come From Away, Fiddler on the Roof, King and I, Evita, Mary Poppins, Wonderland, South Pacific, Miss Saigon, The Woman in White, Riverdance, Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Misérables, and Aspects of Love. David is currently working on the upcoming productions of Cats and Come From Away.

A native of Tokyo, Tomoko moved to the United States in 2011 and has since made her impact felt as a violinist, contractor, and advocate for diversity in the music industry. The first female contractor for a Pulitzer-winning musical (A Strange Loop, 2019), she has also coordinated and supervised music for recording productions in seven countries, working along the way in a multitude of genres with such artists as Alan Silvestri, Andrea Bocelli, Alicia Keys, Kurt Elling, the Tokyo Philharmonic, and many more. Tomoko’s passion for breaking down cultural and musical barriers led her to found the Tokyo Strings Workshop and The Resonance Collective, which have produced master classes and workshops with strings players participating from over 17 countries.

An AAPI Panel Discussion