Name: Sally Ho
Voice: Soprano
Joined: Dec 2022 – Jan 2023
Q. At what age did you start singing in a choir?
A. My first ever choir rehearsal was with the junior choir in my primary school in Hong Kong; I was maybe 7 or 8.
Q. What did you get out of it?
A. The pure joy of making music with a group! Fast-forward 30-plus years, and choral singing has become a sine non qua of my life.
Q. When did you came to London and why?
A. My husband Kevin Cheng (who is, by the way, one of LSC’s tenors) and I packed our Hong Kong life away and moved to London in 2021. There were perhaps 999 reasons for it. Long story short, we are starting afresh in this lively, open-minded melting pot of races and culture where differences are embraced, individuality respected, kindness and compassion appreciated and, perhaps most important of all, freedom cherished and protected.
Q. What appealed to you about singing with the LSC?
A. I have always wanted to sing with a world-class orchestra alongside singers who are experienced, serious, committed and have a professional attitude. LSC ticks all those boxes.
Q. Have you had any musical training other than singing in a choir?
A. I’ve had many years of piano lessons in my student days – but I obviously hadn’t practised enough! I also had singing lessons, on and off, for about five years in Hong Kong.
Q. How do you manage a busy chorus schedule alongside the rest of your life?
A. I would very much rather not talk about work:-). All I can say is, I give as much priority to rehearsals and concerts as I possibly can, as choral singing is a primary source of happiness and of utmost importance in my life.
Q. What’s been the biggest musical moment for you in the LSC so far?
A. Beethoven 9 has been on my “bucket list” for a long time, so of the five or six projects I’ve sung so far, the highest point got to be the glorious B9 concert with the LSO under the baton of François-Xavier Roth in June this year.
Q. What sort of music do you listen to when you’re not singing Beethoven’s 9th?
A. Mainly classical – piano, vocal, orchestral works, anything. Recently I’ve been into Schumann’s beautiful oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri, which the LSC is going to perform at the Proms this August.
Q. Aside from the music, what else do you get from being in the chorus?
A. Being a relatively new kid on the block in this enormous community of amateur musicians, I have yet to meet everyone in the chorus, but LSC has some of the nicest people I’ve met on British soil and I’m grateful for the kindness along the way.
Q. How did you prepare for the audition?
A. I chose an art song I knew well enough and had always liked – Allerseelen by Richard Strauss – and gave the best I could in the circumstances, bearing in mind that I wouldn’t be perfect. I treated the audition as a voice training session where, whatever the audition result might have been, I would at least have learned how to sing healthily and sustainably.
Q. Is there one piece of advice you’d give to someone considering joining the chorus?
A. Come with a sharp brain, and always be ready to learn something new!