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“I live in two worlds,” says pianist and composer Alice Ping Yee Ho. Born in Hong Kong, Ho studied music in the U.K. and Germany before settling in Toronto. She was deeply impacted both by hearing traditional Chinese music in her youth, as well as her education in the Western classical music canon: “It shaped how I listen and how I create.”
Ho says that her Western training helps her compose logically and, almost, mathematically. However, her influences from Chinese music culture encourage her to consider the emotional impact of the piece and sometimes move away from what is the most “logical” progression.
Her upcoming album The Imagined, with pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico, features technically complex works that reflect her and her collaborators’ “own stories and … spirits.” While Ho places an emphasis on imagined spaces and tales, her works reflect and evoke real emotions such as nostalgia, introspection and peace.
Christina Petrowska Quilico & Alice Ping Yee Ho. Photo: Cathy Ord
A Personal Touch
The Imagined brings together four solo piano works composed by Ho in the last four years. Three of the four works were written for pianists, also of Chinese descent: Tong Wang, Han Chen and Philip Chiu. “This album is very personal for me,” Ho says, referencing how East Asian influences intertwine with Western traditions on every track.
The penultimate track, The Chinese Nightingale, demonstrates how Ho blends her two worlds, as well as real and imagined inspirations. Commissioned by Vancouver’s Muzewest Concerts Society, the piece is inspired by a Chinese folktale about a supernatural nightingale who travels through time.
Ho wrote Nightingale for solo piano with electronics, using a combination of altered old folk tunes and human voices fused with multiple layers of engineered sounds. Simultaneously, the composer requires the piano to move beyond its typical function or sound. “This [work]is a challenge for the pianist because [the piano]sort of imitates a Chinese instrument, the pipa,” Ho explains. “The tremolo is a … typical technique in that instrument. And it’s very dramatic—sometimes it can be so angsty, sometimes it can be so romantic—so I wanted to capture that.”
In doing so, Ho creates a unique soundscape that showcases the mystical bird’s journey. Layered with the sounds of ancient instruments, this work recalls a familiar and imaginary space that can only be visited in this moment.
Value Your Voice
An established pianist and composer, Ho has spent years developing her style. For emerging artists, she advises, “It is good to let your own culture be a point of inspiration and strength. And also, one should be curious, keep an open mind … because to find your own voice, you should be very patient.”
Often, an artist from a particular culture or background is expected to be its spokesperson: an entire group’s experiences represented and defended by one person. Ho acknowledges that this expectation can be overwhelming. She instead suggests that young people focus on sharing their individual stories and perspectives: “The world needs … voices that are authentic and true to oneself.”
The Imagined will be released with Navona Records on May 8.
An expanded version of its first track, Pictures from an Imaginary Exhibition, will have its world premiere with Kindred Spirits Orchestra on May 16.
www.alicepyho.com
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