
Ho selected the texts for this work from award-winning author Lien Chao's bilingual poetry collections, Maples and the Stream (1999) and More Than Skin Deep (2004). They trace the author's 40-year journey from China to Canada, and depict the struggle of a generation's search for freedom and free artistic expression. Each poem depicts a scenario from differing points of Lien's journey.
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.
