Click here to listen to a sample of Vincent Ho’s music.

“Vince’s music gets your blood pumping. It speeds your heart and makes you feel alive.”

At first glance, it’s hard to see how the worlds of classical music and avian research could be connected but, composer Vincent Ho has always been inspired by the natural world. His Whimsical Concerto of Fanciful Birds will place the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra’s audience in the middle of the prairies amidst a migrating flock with the help of world-renowned and Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Timothy McAllister.

“Vince’s music gets your blood pumping. It speeds your heart and makes you feel alive,” says SSO CEO and Creative Producer Mark Turner. “He’s one of the leading stars of new, Canadian music and that’s why the SSO commissioned this piece. Our audience is going to be blown away.”

“I’ve always loved the idea that artists can take that knowledge and speak to the heart.”

Vincent Ho’s latest concerto was commissioned by the SSO. (Hans Arnold)

Ho had already written several shorter pieces for saxophone and piano inspired by birds when the commission was proposed. He spent time with writer and cultural consultant Louise Halfe as well as researchers at the University of Saskatchewan’s Faculty for Applied Avian Research to expand the work into a symphonic piece.

Dr. Christy Morrissey’s research into migrating birds was central to Ho’s composition. (Daniel Hallen)

“Scientific research is written in a way that only a select group of people can fully understand,” explains Ho. “I’ve always loved the idea that artists can take that knowledge and speak to the heart. Creating a snapshot of where birds are now in migration. A way of creating an historic record that everyone can understand.”

This premiere will be a surround-sound experience blending recordings of prairie birds and a saxophone ensemble, scattered throughout the hall, as McAllister and the orchestra to envelop the audience in sound.

“It’s a thrill to be that voice, helping him find a place in history and the repertoire.”

With more than 250 world-premieres on his resume, McAllister’s known for championing new music. He says it’s an important part of pushing the art form and the possibilities for the saxophone in the symphonic world forward.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with a living composer,” McAllister says. “People forget that even Beethoven had a world premiere once. Vince is a visionary and it’s a thrill to be that voice, helping him find a place in history and the repertoire.”

The SSO’s Rachmaninoff Dances will feature Ho’s new work alongside Kalamalka (Lake of many colours) – Prelude for orchestra by Jean Coulthard and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 under guest conductor Robert Franz. Ho can’t wait for the premiere.

“There’s that moment of silence between the last note and applause, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” says Ho. “If the audience responds enthusiastically, I know it’s going to have a life beyond this performance. I couldn’t be more thrilled for Saskatoon to hear it.”