ABOUT
“Ariel Mo’s interpretation creates the first highlight of the evening, her expressive performance a masterful example of rigor and virtuosity… This terse performance has a considerable visceral and emotional impact.”
— Johannes Birringer (Houston)
“… endlessly positive attitude, extraordinary technique, sincere commitment to every moment … and an exceptional courage to confront the unknown and unborn ideas and sounds.”
— Dongryul Lee (Chicago)
Based in Ithaca, NY, Canadian pianist Ariel Mo is a versatile performer and thoughtful collaborator committed to a range of repertoire from the 18th century to today. Recent projects include Menagerie, a program of new works for piano and multimedia based on a theme of ghosts and monsters, inspired by Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit; Three Tales, a music video featuring Cornell’s former particle accelerator and cello works by Bach, Brahms, and Katherine Balch on historical keyboards; and WATERx, a hybrid concert-installation exploring ecology and psychology. In 2024, Ariel directed All the Wrong Notes, a four-day festival at Cornell University in celebration of the Charles Ives sesquicentennial. Ariel has been a prizewinner at numerous competitions including the Canadian Music Competition and PianoArts North American Competition, and has performed as a soloist with the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra and NEC Philharmonia. She has also attended many festivals in the US and Europe, from Bowdoin and Norfolk to Bang On A Can, to Ensemble Modern’s Hans Zender Akademie and the Holland Music Sessions.
Ariel holds a BM, MM, and GD from New England Conservatory, and is currently pursuing a DMA at Cornell University with Xak Bjerken. She is a member of Boston-based Trio Gaia. Ariel is deeply indebted to her former teachers Alessio Bax, Pavel Nersessian, Stephen Drury, Bruce Brubaker, Victor Rosenbaum, Kenneth Broadway and Ralph Markham, and Qi Li.