Composing Competition |

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.