British-Chinese composer Alex Ho tells me over lunch at a bao restaurant in central London: “Not only for the enjoyment, but even professionally and creatively—you’re gonna make better work if you just get on with people.” Ho is one of two artistic directors of contemporary music collective Tangram (七巧板), a group of composers and performers whose mission statement is “transcending the China-West divide.” The collective champions the social aspects of its artistic community, including the sharing of food, as much as the art it creates. “At Tangram, what we’ve done for most of our projects is: have a meal before the project, if not during, [or] after,” Ho says. “Just to share food together. So it’s particularly appropriate that we’re here.”
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