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 various 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 deeply indebted to her former teachers Alessio Bax, Pavel Nersessian, Stephen Drury, Bruce Brubaker, Victor Rosenbaum, Kenneth Broadway and Ralph Markham, and Qi Li.
