Pianist Dane Ko takes the stage at Off-Festival Bach for a recital built around the tension between two opposing musical impulses: the free, spontaneous world of fantasy and the disciplined craft of fugue.
The programme centres on Bach's monumental Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, one of the composer's most celebrated keyboard works, which anchors the recital's conceptual dialogue between freedom and structure.
Surrounding this centrepiece are works that continue the conversation across eras and styles: mercurial fantasies by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Chopin's enigmatic Polonaise-Fantaisie, and the rarely performed Prelude and Fugue by Friedrich Gulda — a jazz-inflected piece that invites the performer to close with a free cadenza.
Adding a personal dimension, Dane Ko also offers an improvisation on a Chinese folk song, a spontaneous tribute to his own roots that weaves together tradition, identity, and the spirit of fantasy.
This recital is presented as part of Festival Bach 2026 in Montreal.