KOW, Sasha

Sasha Kow is a Malaysian composer currently based on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil- Waututh peoples.

Throughout the years, Sasha has turned to composing as a means of documenting and journaling different moments of her life. Each piece is crafted with the desire to understand processes, especially how things come to be. She draws from a variety of human experiences involving emotional states, memories, belonging, and even food. Her most recent work with the Allegra Chamber Orchestra was inspired by her daily companion, tea. Utilizing events and objects that occur in every day life is how she relates her thoughts to the world. It is also an invitation to you, to share in the experience.

In addition to creating music, she is passionate about decolonization of the arts. Her work with The Score Research Cluster has encouraged her to diversify her approach to composition, sound and music as a whole. She wants to see more representation of minority BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA2S+ artists wthin the arts and hopes to provide access to the arts across all social classes in her home country, Malaysia. Frankly, she thinks it’s about damn time.

In her spare time, Sasha enjoys making food she grew up eating, sharing them, long walks, and being outside with her partner.

Sasha holds an MMus in Music Composition from the University of British Columbia and a BMus in Music Composition from the University of Oregon. Her teachers and mentors include Alice Ping Yee Ho, Dorothy Chang, T. Patrick Carrabré, Stephen Chatman, Jeffrey Ryan, David Crumb and Robert Kyr.