photo credit: Bo Huang
Biography
Alice Ping Yee Ho is a distinguished Chinese Canadian composer acclaimed for her versatile and innovative body of work. Renowned for her eclectic style, she seamlessly blends genres such as opera, orchestral, chamber music, dance, and theatre. Her compositions, celebrated for their originality, emotional depth, and cross-cultural influences, have garnered numerous awards and accolades.
Ho’s honors include the 2024 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music, the 2022 Symphony Nova Scotia Maria Anna Mozart Award, and the 2022 Barlow Endowment Commissioning Award. She is also the recipient of the 2019 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize and the 2013 Dora Mavor Moore Award for "Outstanding Original Opera" for The Lesson of Da Ji. Additional accolades include the Boston Metro Opera International Composition Competition, the Prince Edward Island Symphony Composers Competition, the 2014 Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Friendship Orchestral Composition Competition, the Louis Applebaum Composers Award, the K.M. Hunter Artist Award, and the Luxembourg Sinfonietta International Composition Prize.
Her music has been performed internationally by esteemed ensembles and orchestras, including the Finnish Lapland Chamber Orchestra, China National Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic, Taiwan National Symphony, Luxembourg Sinfonietta, Estonia's Ellerhein Girls' Choir, and Polish Radio Choir. In Canada, her works have been showcased by leading groups such as the Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Nova Scotia, and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphonies, Esprit Orchestra, Art Choral Canada, and New Music Concerts. She has collaborated with renowned soloists and ensembles, including the Penderecki String Quartet, TorQ Percussion Quartet, Duo Concertante, violist Rivka Golani, pianists Christina Petrowska Quilico, Philip Chiu, and Katherine Dowling, percussionists Sumire Yoshihara, Evelyn Glennie, and Beverley Johnston, and flutists Robert Aitken, Patrick Gallois, and Susan Hoeppner.
A two-time JUNO Award nominee, Ho has released 10 solo albums that reflect her artistic range. Highlights include Ming for percussion, Glistening Pianos for two pianos, and The Lesson of Da Ji, featuring her Dora Award-winning opera. Other recordings include Mysterious Boot for flute, cello, and piano; The Monkiest King, showcasing her children’s opera with the Canadian Children’s Opera Company; Venom of Love, a recording of her electronic ballet music; A Woman’s Voice for female voices and piano; and two solo piano albums, Blaze and Awake and Dreaming, featuring Christina Petrowska Quilico and Katherine Dowling. Her catalog also includes a full-length recording of her opera CHINATOWN, commissioned by City Opera Vancouver with Madeleine Thien and a Hoisanese co-writer.
Ho’s operas, including The Lesson of Da Ji, The Monkiest King, and CHINATOWN, transcend cultural boundaries, reflecting her Chinese heritage while connecting with global audiences. These works exemplify her ability to blend diverse musical traditions into powerful narratives.
She holds a Bachelor of Music from Indiana University and a Master of Music from the University of Toronto, having studied with John Eaton, Brian Ferneyhough, and John Beckwith. An accomplished pianist and advocate for contemporary music, she has premiered works such as Tan Dun’s Traces II.
Now based in Toronto, Alice Ping Yee Ho continues to captivate audiences with her groundbreaking compositions and unique artistic voice
Ho’s honors include the 2024 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music, the 2022 Symphony Nova Scotia Maria Anna Mozart Award, and the 2022 Barlow Endowment Commissioning Award. She is also the recipient of the 2019 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize and the 2013 Dora Mavor Moore Award for "Outstanding Original Opera" for The Lesson of Da Ji. Additional accolades include the Boston Metro Opera International Composition Competition, the Prince Edward Island Symphony Composers Competition, the 2014 Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Friendship Orchestral Composition Competition, the Louis Applebaum Composers Award, the K.M. Hunter Artist Award, and the Luxembourg Sinfonietta International Composition Prize.
Her music has been performed internationally by esteemed ensembles and orchestras, including the Finnish Lapland Chamber Orchestra, China National Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic, Taiwan National Symphony, Luxembourg Sinfonietta, Estonia's Ellerhein Girls' Choir, and Polish Radio Choir. In Canada, her works have been showcased by leading groups such as the Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Nova Scotia, and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphonies, Esprit Orchestra, Art Choral Canada, and New Music Concerts. She has collaborated with renowned soloists and ensembles, including the Penderecki String Quartet, TorQ Percussion Quartet, Duo Concertante, violist Rivka Golani, pianists Christina Petrowska Quilico, Philip Chiu, and Katherine Dowling, percussionists Sumire Yoshihara, Evelyn Glennie, and Beverley Johnston, and flutists Robert Aitken, Patrick Gallois, and Susan Hoeppner.
A two-time JUNO Award nominee, Ho has released 10 solo albums that reflect her artistic range. Highlights include Ming for percussion, Glistening Pianos for two pianos, and The Lesson of Da Ji, featuring her Dora Award-winning opera. Other recordings include Mysterious Boot for flute, cello, and piano; The Monkiest King, showcasing her children’s opera with the Canadian Children’s Opera Company; Venom of Love, a recording of her electronic ballet music; A Woman’s Voice for female voices and piano; and two solo piano albums, Blaze and Awake and Dreaming, featuring Christina Petrowska Quilico and Katherine Dowling. Her catalog also includes a full-length recording of her opera CHINATOWN, commissioned by City Opera Vancouver with Madeleine Thien and a Hoisanese co-writer.
Ho’s operas, including The Lesson of Da Ji, The Monkiest King, and CHINATOWN, transcend cultural boundaries, reflecting her Chinese heritage while connecting with global audiences. These works exemplify her ability to blend diverse musical traditions into powerful narratives.
She holds a Bachelor of Music from Indiana University and a Master of Music from the University of Toronto, having studied with John Eaton, Brian Ferneyhough, and John Beckwith. An accomplished pianist and advocate for contemporary music, she has premiered works such as Tan Dun’s Traces II.
Now based in Toronto, Alice Ping Yee Ho continues to captivate audiences with her groundbreaking compositions and unique artistic voice