The premiere performance of Arctic Symphony is scheduled for February 6, 2010, at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s 2010 New Music Festival (opening night gala). Check back for more details.

From Vincent Ho’s notes:

In the summer of 2008, I had the opportunity to visit the Arctic region as part of an “Artist On Board” program through the Circumpolar Flaw Lead Systems Study organization (CFL). I was taken on board one of Canada’s state-of-the-art research vessels, The CCGS Amundsen, where I was introduced to the studies being conducted by some of the world’s leading climate change scientists. I was also taken to many indigenous communities to learn about their culture and how the current state of the environment has impacted their way of life.

During my limited time there, I spent my days and nights observing the landscape. Though the information given to me from the scientists and indigenous communities was invaluable in broadening my perspective, I ultimately felt that the work had to be my own interpretation of the region. Writing it from any other perspective (let it be from the scientists’ or aboriginal point of view) would be creatively disingenuous and unrepresentative of my connection to the North.

As the days passed I began to develop a spiritual connection with the environment, and for good reason: I was in a vast open area; I was constantly being subjected to the environmental conditions of the region; and I was continually surrounded by nature’s angelic beauty, untouched by utilitarian society. I therefore felt that the music needed to express this spiritual connection I made.