Vincent Ho is a Canadian composer. Born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1975, Vincent Ho began his musical training through the Royal Conservatory of Music. He received his Associate Diploma in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto) in 1993, his Bachelor of Music from the University of Calgary in 1998, his Master of Music degree from the University of Toronto in 2000, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California in 2005. Since his appointment to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra as composer-in-residence in 2007, Ho has presented a number of large-scale works that have generated excitement and critical praise. His many awards have included Harvard University’s Fromm Music Commission, The Canada Council for the Arts’ “Robert Fleming Prize,” ASCAP’s “Morton Gould Young Composer Award,” four SOCAN Young Composers Awards, and CBC Radio’s Audience Choice Award (2009 Young Composers’ Competition).
Major Arts Grant Project: New composition inspired by traditional Chinese music
Vincent’s Major Arts Grant will support 12 to 14 months of research into the traditional repertoire of Chinese music and the traditional instruments of the Chinese orchestra with the goal of composing a large scale 20 minute work informed by this research. This project will allow Vincent to delve into Eastern creative principles and to go beyond the Western orchestral art form to expand his orchestration skills into new territory. The piece will contain four movements, each based on the elements of Earth, Wind, Water and Fire common to every culture. Vincent will be mentored by the Chinese-Canadian composer Tony K.T. Leung of the Dim Sum Ensemble and Composer-in-Residence with the Toronto Chinese Orchestra. When completed, the work will receive a premier performance during the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra’s 2016/17 or 2017/18 season in Hong Kong, followed by a performance by the National Chinese Orchestra in Taipei.
