NZTrio Composing Competition
In 2015 we kicked off our first Composing Competition for tertiary students, culminating in Auckland and Wellington performances of the winning 10 compositions. The 13-minute documentary below (filmed and edited by Chris Watson at SOUNZ) presents an overview of how the competition came about, the process involved, and why Douglas Lilburn was chosen as the inspiration for this first competition.
Scroll down to find out more about the 2017 competition, now underway, titled Turn a Phrase – where composition students were tasked with finding inspiration from New Zealand literature of any kind to create a new work under 10 mins long.
Video from 2015 NZTrio Composing Competition
NZTrio Composing Competition 2017: TURN A PHRASE
A total of 23 scores were submitted from around the country to our second NZTrio Composing Competition. We were impressed with the overall standard and variety of voices within the entries, and it was very clear that much thought had gone in to the selection of words by a wide range of New Zealand authors and poets. It was exciting to see those words and imagery given new context through each composer’s distinct musical language.
17 entries were chosen to progress to the workshop rounds in July and August where we had a chance to meet the people behind the notes and share our thoughts. The composers then had another couple of months to make any revisions before resubmitting their works for the final selection round in September.
Together with composer Juliet Palmer, we then selected 9 winners based on the strength and originality of the scores, as well as considering how authentically and meaningfully each composer responded to the brief:
‘ to find a New Zealand author or poet whose carefully crafted words inspire a musical work of no more than 10 minutes in length.’
In alphabetical order of surname, the nine winning works are:
Riley Cahill: Territory of the Heart
Josiah Carr: Time and Glue
Rosa Elliott: Voices of the Air
Richard Francis: Reflections
Marcus Jackson: when where
Lily James: Charcoal on White Snow
Callum Mallett: Departure, at the Going Tide
Abby Pinkerton: Whispers and Echoes
Xu Tang: One Two Three
We congratulate you all and look forward to performing these nine works in the Winners’ Concerts this October (details below).
See you all soon!
Ashley, Sarah and Miranda*
NZTrio
(*Miranda Adams, guest violinist for the NZTrio 2017 Composing Competition)
Public performances of finalist works:
Sunday, October 15 – Wellington NZSM Adam Concert Room, 5 – 7pm
Friday, October 20 – Auckland School of Music, 7.30 – 9.30pm
FREE EVENTS – General Admission
NZTrio Composing Competition 2015: Celebrating Lilburn
In 2015 we kicked off our first Composing Competition for tertiary students, culminating in Auckland and Wellington performances of the winning 10 compositions. The 13-minute documentary above (filmed and edited by Chris Watson at SOUNZ) presents an overview of how the competition came about, the process involved, and why Douglas Lilburn was chosen as the inspiration for this first competition.
41 scores were submitted from composition students around the country, all responding to the brief: Write a new work for Piano Trio that references, or responds to, Douglas Lilburn’s life and work. 18 compositions were selected by NZTrio for workshops, then following revision and resubmission, 10 works were chosen by NZTrio and composer Ken Young to be performed in the Winner’s Concerts in Auckland and Wellington.
NZTrio Composing Competition 2015 Winners
Click on each winner to watch NZTrio’s Wellington performance of their work, or click the link at the bottom to watch the full unedited concert.
Reuben Jelleyman: Analysis/Synthesis
Isaac Shatford: Aeroplanes Over Aotearoa
Matthew Everingham: A Search for a Language
Alex van den Broek: View from Mt Peel
Caitlin Morris: The Song of Cloudy Bay/Te Koko-o-Kupe
Jeremy Mayall: Fourteen moments for three
Click here to watch the complete Winners’ Concert in Wellington
All Video filmed and edited by Chris Watson from SOUNZ, and sound-recorded by NZSM.