Alex Ho

Alex Ho is a British-Chinese composer based in the UK, whose music has been hailed for its “ingenious musical and theatrical dramaturgy” (Critics’ Choice) and “impressive balance of sonic embrace and intellectual poise” (Opera Today). His projects range from opera, orchestral, ensemble, vocal, choral, and solo works, to pieces for Chinese, western, and extra-musical instruments. Ho is a resident composer at Glyndebourne Opera through their Balancing the Score programme (2023-26), and co-director of music collective Tangram, who are Associate Artists at LSO St Luke’s. He was formerly Artist-in-Residence at Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier (2021-24) and Associate Composer at Oxford International Song Festival (2022-23).

Ho has a particular interest in stage and interdisciplinary work. His music theatre piece, Untold (co-created with Olivier-nominated choreographer Julia Cheng and produced with Muziektheater Transparant), premiered at Concertgebouw Brugge and O. Festival Rotterdam to critical acclaim, winning the 2023 FEDORA Opera Prize. Commissioned as part of his residency at Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, Ho’s chamber opera Étape par Étape premiered on the main stage in 2022, while his installation opera, Séisme, was shortlisted for the 2023 FEDORA Digital Prize (described as “insidiously bold” by Opera Magazine). AMAZON, Ho’s digital piece for narration, stop-motion animation, and ‘found sounds’ (co-created with theatre-maker Elayce Ismail), won the 2021 UK Critics’ Circle Young Talent Award; and Ho was nominated for a Scottish New Music Award in 2021 for his collaborative music theatre piece, Breathe and Draw.

Other commission highlights include a double bass concerto for the London Philharmonic Orchestra (2022), a new orchestral piece to unveil the 2022-23 season at Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, two chamber pieces for the London Symphony Orchestra (2019, 2020), vocal commissions from Het Concertgebouw (2023), the Royal Opera House (2022), and National Opera Studio (2020), a commission for traditional Chinese string quartet from the Silk String Quartet (2018-21), and an open score piece for four instruments and audience participation, which was commissioned and premiered by Tangram at LSO St Luke’s (2020) and subsequently performed at by London Sinfonietta at the Southbank Centre. 

Ho begins the 2026-27 season with two World Premieres, first with Chronicle at Aldeburgh Festival and then with An English Country House at Glyndebourne. At Wigmore Hall, Ho will also be the subject of a ‘Composer Focus Day’, where yet another Premiere will be performed – a companion piece to Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.

In 2019, Ho co-founded Tangram, a music collective made up of researchers, composers and performers of Chinese and western instruments. Nominated for the RPS Young Artist Award in 2023, their productions have been described as “an aural emblem of understanding and resolution across cultures” (The Stage) and “as satisfying as a full length opera… with their inventive, sophisticated musical language” (Critics Magazine).

Ho studied Music at Oxford University and graduated with first-class honours before completing a master’s in composition at Cambridge University, where he was awarded the Arthur Bliss Prize in Composition for his final portfolio that attained the highest mark across the university. In 2024, he completed a doctorate at the Royal College of Music with a full AHRC scholarship (LAHP Studentship supported by RCM).

2026-27 season / 521 words. Not to be altered without permission.