Tonia Ko

The music of Tonia Ko has been described by critics as “expansive, meditative,” and containing “an uncertain piquancy”. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, her work strives to capture the poetics behind small visual details of everyday life.

Tonia’s music has been performed across the United States as well as in Asia and Europe, by ensembles such as Volti, Flux Quartet, orkest de ereprijs, ensemble mise-en, Eastman Wind Ensemble, and New Morse Code. Festivals that have featured her music include Aspen, Tanglewood, Santa Fe Chamber Music, Thailand International Composition Festival, and Wellesley Composers Conference. In 2013, she was awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a residency from the Copland House. Tonia has also received recognition from BMI, New York Youth Symphony, Lin Yao Ji Foundation, New Music USA, and International Alliance for Women in Music. She is currently represented by Young Concert Artists, Inc. as 2015-2017 Composer-in-Residence.

Her own explorations in the visual arts have sparked a curiosity for interdisciplinary connections— recent projects include an installation for bubble wrap and electronics entitled Breath, Contained and a musical for Perry Chiu Experimental Theatre in Hong Kong. Tonia is currently a doctoral candidate at Cornell University, studying with Steven Stucky and Kevin Ernste. She received previous degrees from Indiana University and the Eastman School of Music.