Sammy was in Leeds and England in March performing in two shows as part of the Sounds Like This Festival. He had an incredible time connecting with new and existing networks and performing with a slew of extremely talented artists! Check out this timeline below of his experiences as part of the festival.

January 16 – received his first promo on Twitter:

Got my first tweeter promo in the U.K. 😊 for an UK based music festival SoundsLikeThis, playing with the master Ambrose Field in March ❤️️🌟✨

A post shared by Sammy Chien (@soar55) on Jan 16, 2018 at 9:25am PST

March 14 – had only been walking in Leeds for 5 minutes and already saw a poster promoting his performance:

just 5 min within my first walk thru of the city today, I bumped into a big poster with my name on it, you know that it’s a city of arts/culture and the festival actually promotes 😉❤️ #soundslikethis #ambrosefield #sammychien #chimerik #chimerik似不像 #UK #Leeds #liveAV #electroacoustic #newmedia #livevisuals

A post shared by Sammy Chien (@soar55) on Mar 14, 2018 at 11:30am PDT

March 13 – attended his first Sounds Like This event, which was a performance by Stone Flowers, a refugee torture survivor music collective who have fled war, conflict and violence:

got to attend my first show in Sounds Like This Festival, was performed by Stone Flowers which is a refugee torture survivor music collective who have fled war, conflict and violence from countries including Iran, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Syria, Afghanistan, Cameroon and the DR Congo. Survivors express themselves through the languages and music traditions of their home countries… this is a fine example of how music and arts can make the world a better place, it’s always so wonderful to see music and art form employed in such meaningful way. Even though one of my focus now is on integrating arts/ technology with social change, but I really wasn’t expecting this, i am even more honoured to be part of this festival! #art #music #healing #socialchange #refugee #surviver #musician #maketheworldabetterplace @musicactionint @leedsmusic

A post shared by Sammy Chien (@soar55) on Mar 13, 2018 at 4:37pm PDT

March 15 – first rehearsal for his show with Ambrose Field joined with Ben Eyes, Ling Ding:

Sneak peak from the rehearsal today (I had to get off the stage to grab these shots while holding the wiimote filming, pardon my camera work) first time playing with the master Ambrose Field joined with Ben Eyes, Ling Ding, really really powerful sound, intense rehearsal! #soundslikethis #ambrosefield #sammychien #chimerik #chimerik似不像 #UK #Leeds #liveAV #electroacoustic #newmedia #livevisuals

A post shared by Sammy Chien (@soar55) on Mar 15, 2018 at 1:42pm PDT

March 18 – Sammy squeezing in some last-minute rehearsal, and learning when it’s time to let the piece be what it’s meant to be:

When you do live /improv shows it's really difficult to know when to stop working for that moment. I've turned the hotel room into media arts studio once again. While I was in the green room still wanted to add functions to the generative visuals and make adjustments, Ambrose finally stopped me, "whatever it will be, it will be great", I trusted that and put away my laptop and just sit with the moment til we got on the stage. This may sound a bit like media arts nerdy talk, but it's my first time actually doing live visuals all in real-time in 100% full HD resolution, all completely brand new work, 1 full hour full length set, full on performing live visuals just like music. #soundslikethis #ambrosefield #sammychien #chimerik #chimerik似不像 #UK #Leeds #liveAV #electroacoustic #newmedia #livevisuals

A post shared by Sammy Chien (@soar55) on Mar 18, 2018 at 8:21am PDT

March 18 – Sammy experiences a unique transcendental experience onstage during his performance:

Wow, we did it, just had one of those unique transcendental experience onstage, a huge trajectory expansive intense journey for 1 full hour, I can hardly believe where we flew and the level we attained in this piece. Right after the show ended, the director of the festival ran up to us and said “That was one of the most incredible thing I've EVER seen!  You have to bring this to london, I swear !” plus some really amazing feedback from the audiences, it’s so rewarding! Big thank you to Ambrose Field for inviting me on this collab, congrats to Ambrose’s team Ben Eyes (electronics) and Ling Ding (vocal), we rocked the stage. Thank you Paul & James / Sounds Like This Festival and Leeds College of Music for putting this on. What a beautiful/transcendental journey. (here are some snippets from Ray Lee in the audience) #soundslikethis #ambrosefield #sammychien #chimerik #chimerik似不像 #UK #Leeds #liveAV #electroacoustic #newmedia #livevisuals @chimerikcollective

A post shared by Sammy Chien (@soar55) on Mar 18, 2018 at 5:32pm PDT