Venom of Love Alice Ping Yee Ho

• Alice Ping Yee Ho (b. 1960): Venom of Love, Act I:
• 1 Venom of Love, Act I: The Cave 03:03
• 2 Venom of Love, Act I: Oriental Beasts 01:43
• 3 Venom of Love, Act I: The Birth 03:02
• 4 Venom of Love, Act I: Ripening 02:02
• 5 Venom of Love, Act I: The Ritual 03:46
• 6 Venom of Love, Act I: The Scholar 02:04
• Venom of Love, Act II:
• 7 Venom of Love, Act II: The Dance 03:14
• 8 Venom of Love, Act II: The Watcher 02:34
• 9 Venom of Love, Act II: Love Encounter 03:04
• 10 Venom of Love, Act II: The Rain 02:41
• 11 Venom of Love, Act II: Green Snake's Agony 03:05
• 12 Venom of Love, Act III: In Love 03:06
• 13 Venom of Love, Act III: Rage of Demon Queen 03:18
• 14 Venom of Love, Act III: Plea of White Snake 02:04
• 15 Venom of Love, Act III: The Pagoda 02:04
• Venom of Love, Act IV:
• 16 Venom of Love, Act IV: The Rescue 03:34
• 17 Venom of Love, Act IV: The Battle 02:10
• 18 Venom of Love, Act IV: Death 01:48
• 19 Venom of Love, Act IV: Transformation 03:56
• 20 Venom of Love, Act IV: Eternal Love 04:48
• Total Runtime 57:06

Info for Venom of Love

A tale of serpent-demons and mortals entwined in forbidden romance, Venom of Love is set to be released September 18, 2020. From one of Canada’s most acclaimed composers, Alice Ping Yee Ho is the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including; the 2019 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize and is a two-time Juno nominee. Written as full length dramatic music for dance in 4 acts, Venom of Love is based on “Legend of the White and Green Snakes” a Chinese tale seeped in oral tradition and finally written down during the Ming dynasty more than 600 years ago. Canadian lyric coloratura soprano Vania Chan shares the tale of love, jealousy and betrayal being the active ingredients in a story of amazing transformations and ultimate redemption. Written for electronic tape, live soprano and percussion, 7 dancers, multimedia video and lighting design, Venom of Love was originally commissioned by Toronto’s Little Pear Garden Contemporary Dance Theatre in 2014 was directed and choreographed by Emily Cheung.

Hong Kong-born, composer Alice Ping Yee Ho is one of Canada’s most sought after composers of contemporary works. Critics have called her music dramatic and graceful, while praising its “organic flow of imagination,” “distinctly individual” style”, “colourful orchestration”, and “emotive qualities”. Influences evident in her proudly eclectic approach include Chinese folk and operatic idioms, Japanese Taiko, jazz, pop culture, and other contemporary art forms. Her ongoing goal is to explore new musical styles that are provocative to the ears.

“Colors and tonality are two attractive resources to me: they form certain mental images that connect to audiences in a very basic way.” (Alice Ping Yee Ho)

Alice Ping Yee Ho, piano
Vania Chan, soprano

Alice Ping Yee Ho
One of the most acclaimed composers writing in Canada today, Hong Kong-born Alice Ping Yee Ho has written in many musical genres and received numerous national and international awards, including the 2019 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize, 2016 Louis Applebaum Composers Award, 2014 Prince Edward Island Symphony Composers Competition, 2014 Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Friendship Orchestral Composition Competition, 2013 Dora Mavor Moore Award “Outstanding Original Opera” for her opera The Lesson of Da Ji, 2013 Boston Metro Opera International Composition Competition, K.M. Hunter Artist Award, du Maurier Arts Ltd. Canadian Composers Competition, MACRO International Composition Competition, Luxembourg Sinfonietta International Composition Prize, and International League of Women Composers Competition.

Critics have called her music dramatic and graceful, while praising its “organic flow of imagination,” “distinctly individual” style", "colourful orchestration", and "emotive qualities". Influences evident in her proudly eclectic approach include Chinese folk and operatic idioms, Japanese Taiko , jazz, pop culture, and other contemporary art forms. Her ongoing goal is to explore new musical styles that are provocative to the ears.

“Colors and tonality are two attractive resources to me: they form certain mental images that connect to audiences in a very basic way.” [AH]

Often featured at national and international new music festivals such as ISCM World Music Days, Ottawa Chamberfest, Demark's CRUSH New Music Festival, Asian Music Week in Japan, etc. Her works have also been performed by major ensembles and soloists including Finnish Lapland Chamber Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, China National Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish Radio Choir, Estonia's Ellerhein Girls' Choir, the Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Victoria, Nova Scotia, Hamilton, Kitchener Waterloo, and Windsor Symphonies, the Luxembourg Sinfonietta, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, New Music Concerts, Penderecki String Quartet, TorQ percussion quartet, Duo Concertante, violist Rivka Golani, percussionists Sumire Yoshihara, Evelyn Glennie, and Beverley Johnston, flutist Robert Aitken, Patrick Gallois, and Susan Hoeppner.

A twice JUNO Award Nominee (2015 and 2018), she has an impressive discography released on the Centrediscs, Naxos, Marquis Classics, Blue Griffin, Electra, and Phoenix labels. She has four solo discs (Centrediscs/Naxos) devoted to music written for different genres: "Ming" for percussion, "Glistening Pianos" for two pianos, "The Lesson of Da Di" features her full length award winning opera, and "The Mysterious Boot" features chamber music for flute, cello, and piano. She is currently producing her 5th CD for her children's opera The Monkiest King with the Canadian Children's Opera Company on Centrediscs/Naxos labels, to be released in the spring of 2020. This new opera with librettist Marjorie Chan has received two nominations in the 2019 Dora Mavor Moore Award for "Outstanding New Opera" and “Outstanding Performing Ensemble”. Her project in-progress including an opera commission CHINATOWN from City Opera Vancouver, with renowned Canadian writer/librettist Madeleine Thien, to be produced in the fall of 2021 at Vancouver Playhouse.

Ms. Ho holds a Bachelor of Music degree in composition with high distinction from Indiana University and a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Toronto. Her teachers have included John Eaton (USA), Brian Ferneyhough(Germany), and John Beckwith (Canada).

​She is a noted classical pianist and an active advocate of contemporary music. She had performed in many new music festivals, including a solo piano recital recorded by CBC Radio 2 in which she premiered Tan Dun’s solo piano work “Traces II”. She now makes her home in Toronto.

Vania Chan
Canadian lyric coloratura soprano Vania Chan received her Master of Music in Classical Voice from the Manhattan School of Music in New York, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from York University, Toronto, receiving a B.F.A. with Specialized Honours in Music. Her “gently shimmering coloratura” can be heard in the recording of the Dora Award winning opera THE LESSON OF DA JI (Toronto Masque Theatre), which received a critic’s choice review in Opera News, New York. She often performs with the Rezonance Baroque Ensemble, showcasing their collaborative program “Handel’s Heroines” at the Early Music Festival in Bloomington Indiana, in Toronto, Hamilton, and at the Richmond Hill Performing Arts Centre.

Booklet for Venom of Love