As part of The SOCAN Foundation’s 3-day Composer Residency Program, Vincent will be in Montreal from November 8-10 to take part in various activities with ECM. This will culminate to the performance of his work, “Nature whispers…”, winner of The People’s Choice Award at CBC-Radio’s EVOLUTION Composers’ Competition. For more info visit: www.ecm.qc.ca

From Vincent Ho’s notes:

Since its premiere in Banff, Alberta (March 26, 2009), I have been meaning to re-write many sections of my work, “Nature whispers…”. As many of you know, it was written for CBC-Radio’s EVOLUTION Composers’ Competition, which was awarded The People’s Choice Award.  During the event, we (the composers and I) had approximately 10 days to complete each of our works before delivering the score and parts to the ensemble. In actuality, I ended up writing my piece within a period of 8 (EIGHT!) days. The reason for my expedited process was to accommodate enough time to notate the score/parts and for the performers to learn the music. The experience was like cramming an essay the night before the deadline (remember how that was like in high school?). Though I was quite pleased with what I had accomplished within the limited time-frame, there were many things about the music I felt could be improved upon. Much of the material warranted further development and re-examination. Thus, a good chunk of my summer was spent re-writing several sections of the work and polishing up other areas. As I was doing so, I had discovered there was more to the piece than I had initially thought. New and exciting directions were uncovered as I delved further into it.

Now that I have completed my piece (again), I feel much happier with it overall.  I look forward to hearing the work in its latest form.