Composer Tonia Ko has collaborated with leading musicians across a variety of media—from acoustic concert pieces to improvisatory works with electronics. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, she has developed an international profile with pieces performed across the USA, Europe, and in Asia.

Recipient of a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship, Ko has received recent commissions from Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Art Song Festival, and the Non-Piano Ensemble. She has served as guest composer for festivals including Composers Conference (USA), Windhoek at Hfm Trossingen (Germany), and Plurisons (Brazil). She was the 2015-17 Composer-in-Residence for Young Concert Artists in New York.

Ko’s creative practice follows aural, visual, and tactile instincts in a holistic way, most prominently in “Breath, Contained”, an ongoing project using bubble wrap as a musical instrument. The concerto Breath, Contained III was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation at the Library of Congress for Contemporaneous, and subsequently performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Luxembourg Philharmonic, featuring Ko as soloist.

Ko earned a doctorate from Cornell University, and her artistic development was further enriched by studies at Tanglewood Music Center and Royaumont Académie Voix Nouvelles. She is currently Senior Lecturer in Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London.