David Ko is a composer, pianist, and producer from South Korea and Canada. His compositions explore applications of intonation theory and music production techniques, with careful attention placed on the creation of melodies with shifting timbral identities. Often drawing from his cultural background, his work has in previous times dealt with themes of estrangement, migration, and appropriation. He has collaborated with artists such as Monica Mays, Elia Kalogianni, and Min Oh, both as composer and performer.
He has received fellowships from the British Columbia Arts Council and the Amsterdam School of the Arts. He also has two SOCAN awards for young composers, for his pieces Let's Talk About Heritage — for ensemble and K-pop singer — and Psalm Song II.
Psalm Songs are an ongoing series of pieces written for and played by the Amsterdam-based Mellonta Collective and myself on electronics.
Music can communicate the memory of lived experiences through associative sounds that stimulate both the spirit and the viscera. Instruments, acoustic and digital, offer tones to contribute to collective melodies, ranging from sober and clear, to hoarse and fragile. Do these melodies embody and reflect some ethical code, or have they simply come from the beyond?
Psalm Song 1, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam, 2022 ↑
Psalm Song 2, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 2023
Gog-Ak
An homage to traditional Korean music, for orchestra.
Ursula lives in a world with its own rules, separate from our own. One rite of passage she must face includes her being assigned an object — in her case, a bowling ball — with which she must find a place to belong. She subsequently travels through different sociotopes, in search of acceptance. When this acceptance is finally found, it comes with another set of realizations.
Made in collaboration with Ludwig Sander, Pietro Elia Barcellona, Madeline Saputra, Ieva Gorda, and Cyprien Crabbé.
