Studio residency: Tze Yeung Ho
Published
The Norwegian composer and artistic researcher Tze Yeung Ho is in a studio residency at BEK, working on the collaborative project “lipsync serenades for softer occasions”, with the textile artist Kholod Hawash and the performance artist Josh Spear.
The work is written for voice and theorbo (a type of plucked string instrument, with a second pegbox), for the soprano Linnéa Sundfær Casserly and theorbo player Tomas Laukvik Nannestad. Josh Spear participates in the live performance of the work, with a lip sync performance in costume by Kholod Hawash, to two love songs inspired by Italian Baroque composer Barbara Strozzi and English Renaissance composer John Dowland. The song’s lyrics are written by Ho, who has drawn inspiration from freak folk artists such as Joanna Newsom and Cocorosie.
The project will result in two performances in London in autumn 2024 and several performances in Finland and Norway in 2025. During the studio residency at BEK, Ho records the musical content and finalises the work in the sound studio. Linnéa Sundfær Casserly and Tomas Laukvik Nannestad are also at BEK for a few days, to record the voice and theorbo parts.
“lipsync serenades for softer occasions” is a continuation of an earlier collaboration between Kholod Hawash and Tze Yeung Ho – the project “The Altersea Opera”, currently presented at the Nordic Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2024.
Tze Yeung Ho will also present his work-in-progress during Back to BEK: Rooftop Night on 23 August at BEK.
TZE YEUNG HO
Tze Yeung Ho (b. 1992) is a Norwegian composer and artistic researcher. Ho’s music is created at the crossroads of understanding, reflecting his multilingual upbringing. His works explore the territories of speech, translation in language, dramaturgy and poetics. Working with Scandinavian, Finno-Ugric and Chinese poetry and prose, his music treads on the fragile landscapes of (mis)communication through (un)spoken words. Close collaboration with living writers, storytellers and word-based artists is integral to his practice. His creations usually result in some form of music theatre.
Images: 1) Tomas Laukvik Nannestad, Tze Yeung Ho and Linnéa Sundfær Casserly at BEK. 2-3) Recording in the sound studio. 4) Theorbe warm-up in the video studio. All photos: BEK.