Ho's personal response to cancer, From Darkness to Light is a large-scale work that expresses the horrors of the disease and the inner journey that one faces. Emphasising timbre over pulse, From Darkness to Light demonstrates that percussion instruments can be just as expressive as strings or winds. There are various sections where the percussionist can freely improvise, and the work ends with a passage for solo marimba.
Vincent Ho is a Canadian who is widely recognised as one of the most exciting composers of his generation. He has made waves in the music world of North America despite being fairly early in his compositional career, receiving numerous prizes, accolades, and prominent commissions in a relatively short space of time. Ho’s music is rich and energetic - a unique integration of influences ranging from the visual arts, electroacoustic and natural soundscapes, traditional classical music forms, and the physical properties of the instruments and ensembles for which he writes. His music is sensual, sonorous and richly textured, and Ho gives considerable attention to the audience’s experience of his intricate sound-worlds.
