Discipline: Music Composition

Tonia Ko

Discipline: Music Composition
Region: Chicago, IL
MacDowell Fellowships: 2018
More: toniako.com

Composer Tonia Ko investigates micro-textures and physical motion in performance, using her tactile and visual senses to grow her musical practice. Her music has been performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Disney Concert Hall and the Tanglewood, Aspen, and Santa Fe Chamber Music festivals. She has collaborated with leading soloists and ensembles including New Morse Code, Volti, Spektral Quartet, New York Youth Symphony, and Wild Up. Tonia has received recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, two BMI awards, and residencies at the Copland House, Djerassi, and Pocantico Center. She also served as the 2015-2017 Composer-in-Residence for Young Concert Artists. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Honolulu, Tonia earned a D.M.A. from Cornell University, with previous degrees from Eastman School of Music and Indiana University. At MacDowell she worked on Plain, Air, a 30-minute work for string quartet and electronics to be premiered by the Grammy-nominated Spektral Quartet. She received a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship and is the 2018-19 Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago's Center for Contemporary Composition.

Studios

Watson

Tonia Ko worked in the Watson studio.

Built in 1916 in memory of Regina Watson of Chicago, a musician and teacher, this studio was donated by a group of her friends, along with funds for its maintenance. Originally designed to serve as a composers’ studio with room for performance, Watson was used as a recital hall for chamber music for a…

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