Sax player Stephanie Chou holding special International Women's Day performance at BPAC

Stephanie Chou’s take on jazz and pop saxophone, infused with Chinese musical influence, focuses on crossing the boundaries of culture – as well as the boundary between performer and audience. 

With that crossing of barriers, Chou believes she can create social change through music. Her work Comfort Girl, an 80-minute song cycle that explores the lives of comfort women, is taking stage at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on March 8, International Women’s Day. 

Comfort women were women and girls kidnapped and forced into sex slavery around the Second World War. 

“The work is a tribute to these young women’s incandescent courage and indomitable spirit, not only while in captivity during the War but also—in a cruel irony—when they returned home to their families, who didn’t always welcome them back with open arms,” Chou’s website reads.

Chou’s performance in Burlington is also the Canadian premiere of Comfort Girl. The show is also being adapted into an opera titled Jade Star Hotel, due to premiere in XYZ. 

Outside of performing, Chou is also a music educator who has run masterclasses on blending different styles and cultures of music together. 

“She completed graduate studies in Music Composition at the City College of New York,” her website reads. “She studied classical piano for 15 years, started playing saxophone at age 10, and singing at age 24.”

Holding the first performance of Comfort Girl in Canada on International Women’s Day was no coincidence, but was an intentional decision from the get-go to spread her message.

Chou’s show is set for Friday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre. Tickets cost $49.50. 

For more information, and to buy tickets, click here.