Kindred Spirits Orchestr: Images at an Exhibition. Alice Ho: Concerto for piano and orchestra “Pictures from an Imagined Exhibition”; Bruckner, Symphony no. 8, with Kristian Alexander | conductor and Christina Petrowska Quilico, pianist. May 16, 2026 at Meridian Arts Centre — George Weston Recital Hall.
Kindred Spirits Orchestra, known for its imaginative programming, presented an exciting program of classical music on Saturday, pairing a world premiere of a Canadian work with one of the great monuments of the Romantic symphonic repertoire.
Alice Ping Yee Ho’s Piano Concerto “Pictures From an Imagined Exhibition”
Ho is a celebrated Canadian composer of a diverse body of work that spans opera, orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo repertoire. Born in Hong Kong, her works bridge Eastern and Western cultures.
Performing the world premiere of her concerto is pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico, an Order of Canada and multiple awards recipient known for championing new Canadian works, and Ho’s frequent collaborator.
As a tribute to Modest Mussorgsky’s famous “Pictures at an Exhibition,” in which each movement depicts a Viktor Hartmann painting, Ho’s concerto is inspired by paintings of both Quilico and Hong Kong ink artist Wesley Tongson (1957-2012).
Ho explained in an interview during intermission that this work is a sonic representation of the inner thoughts, emotional journeys and spirits of the artists.
The six movements have distinct themes and characters. With each movement, a series of paintings were projected on a large screen. In “Carried by the River,” the piano mimics the trickling of water with distinct eastern musical motifs. “Free Strokes” and “Mystical Mountains” have an air of mystery along with the feeling of being suspended in time.
“Distant Drums” carries unrelentingly rapid piano passages with random brass punctuations. The ominous undercurrent perhaps represents the artist’s inner turmoil. “Dancing Colours” is a vibrant movement with whimsical bursts of orchestral colour, whereas “Eclipsing Dreams” has an Impressionist character. The music swells from stillness to a sudden, explosive finish.
This was a technically difficult piece for the piano. Quilico displayed some adventurous piano playing, with a style that bridged classical tradition and contemporary innovation. The orchestral part had many layers and textures that blended voices of east and west.
For the audience, this was a unique experience of sight and sound. This experience could have been enhanced with the display of the title, year and artist of each painting to provide more context.
Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 in C Minor
KSO music director and conductor Kristian Alexander is a visionary who deliberately selects not often-performed repertoire to challenge both the musicians and the audience. The orchestra rarely performs the same piece twice, and the maestro made a daring choice to present Bruckner’s Eighth for the first time.
Bruckner’s last symphony is infrequently performed not only because of its length — at almost 90 minutes, this mammoth is one of the longest symphonies ever written — but also because it requires special instrumentation — a quartet of Wagner tubas, which the KSO had custom-ordered from the UK.
For the most part, the orchestra showed technical mastery of the piece. There was some fine playing from the winds section, especially the flutes. Like many Bruckner symphonies, the orchestration is rich in brass, but this was also where the section struggled with pitch and cohesion.
This symphony is a deeply spiritual journey, with the third movement “Adagio” being its emotional core. It started off with sublime serenity and a deep sense of devotion, featuring some of the best playing of the evening by the orchestra. This slow burn stretched into a laborious journey; somewhere around the middle of this very long movement, mundaneness took over as the players began losing steam. By the final movement, Alexander was losing architectural command of his battle-weary soldiers, who could not propel the momentum and intensity needed for the triumphant and apocalyptic finale.
Final Thoughts
This piece required a more flexible sound, with more structural clarity and spiritual depth. Despite the inconsistent execution, Alexander and the KSO are to be applauded for having the right intentions and the spirit to tackle such an ambitious work.
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