Biography
Vicky Chow serves as pianist for the Bang on a Can All-Stars and stands out as a leading presence in New York’s contemporary-music landscape, where she lives and works. She has worked closely with a wide range of composers, performers, and ensembles active in that sphere.
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to parents who emigrated from Hong Kong, Chow displayed prodigious talent early on; by the age of eight she had already decided she wished to study at the Juilliard School. While pursuing what she later described as an intensely traditional classical training, she collected several local prizes in Vancouver, appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony at ten, and earned the top ranking in her division at the Canadian National Competition. That achievement brought an opportunity to perform the opening movement of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat major, Op. 10, with orchestra. She did relocate to New York and complete both bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Juilliard, yet she felt constrained by its conventional environment. When a colleague asked her to substitute at a concert devoted to music by Zhou Tian, she seized the occasion. This experience prompted her to seek out curricula centered on contemporary repertoire, leading her to the Manhattan School of Music. There she entered a thriving new-music community, and in 2008 composer Andy Akiho created the work Vick(i/y) specifically for her.
Chow became a member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars the following year. With the ensemble she has performed extensively across many continents and participated in numerous recordings, the first of which was Big, Beautiful, Dark and Scary in 2012. On stage she has appeared alongside the Kronos Quartet and The Knights, as well as with composers Meredith Monk, John Zorn, and Steve Reich. Her first solo album, Tristan Perich: Surface Image, appeared in 2014; subsequent releases include Aorta in 2016 and Michael Gordon: Sonatra in 2018. She has also recorded several works by Jane Antonia Cornish, among them the 2022 album Sierra.
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to parents who emigrated from Hong Kong, Chow displayed prodigious talent early on; by the age of eight she had already decided she wished to study at the Juilliard School. While pursuing what she later described as an intensely traditional classical training, she collected several local prizes in Vancouver, appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony at ten, and earned the top ranking in her division at the Canadian National Competition. That achievement brought an opportunity to perform the opening movement of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat major, Op. 10, with orchestra. She did relocate to New York and complete both bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Juilliard, yet she felt constrained by its conventional environment. When a colleague asked her to substitute at a concert devoted to music by Zhou Tian, she seized the occasion. This experience prompted her to seek out curricula centered on contemporary repertoire, leading her to the Manhattan School of Music. There she entered a thriving new-music community, and in 2008 composer Andy Akiho created the work Vick(i/y) specifically for her.
Chow became a member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars the following year. With the ensemble she has performed extensively across many continents and participated in numerous recordings, the first of which was Big, Beautiful, Dark and Scary in 2012. On stage she has appeared alongside the Kronos Quartet and The Knights, as well as with composers Meredith Monk, John Zorn, and Steve Reich. Her first solo album, Tristan Perich: Surface Image, appeared in 2014; subsequent releases include Aorta in 2016 and Michael Gordon: Sonatra in 2018. She has also recorded several works by Jane Antonia Cornish, among them the 2022 album Sierra.
Albums
Frank Horvat: The Banff Suite
2025
Philip Glass: Études for Solo Piano, Book 1
2022
Jane Antonia Cornish: Sierra
2022
Last Light
2022
The Tragedy of Hikikomori Loveless
2022
Michael Gordon: Sonatra
2018
A O R T A
2016
Tristan Perich: Surface Image
2014
Singles
