Ngā mihi ki a koutou mō te tau hou nei! (greetings to you all in this new year)  We have an amazing line up of events coming up in 2020 that will be live on our website soon.  Make sure to check these out; there are some exciting new productions being showcased at NZSM this year! 

In our last edition, we featured some of our students as they got ready to head off to Chengdu, China, to play with the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra.  Read on to see how their travels went and look at the wonderful pictures they sent us along the way.

We also have some words from our NZSM students about the 2019 student events.  Such a wonderful display of the creative abundance that our students have.  

We also have some notable award mentions for both 2019 and 2020 that we are super excited to include in our newsletter. Finally, we have an exciting new partnership to announce below in our NZSM news!!

NEWS

Signing of Chamber Music NZ Agreement

Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington is pleased to announce the signing of an agreement with Chamber Music New Zealand to support the New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT) Chamber Music Contest 2020

Chamber Music New Zealand and Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington is pleased to unite in support of the New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT) Chamber Music Contest 2020.  Chamber Music New Zealand is an advocate of young musicians from around New Zealand and is dedicated to nurturing the love of music in young minds and create unique and creative opportunities to encourage this. 

The 2020 New Zeland Community Trust (NZCT) Chamber Music Contest is the longest-running competition for secondary students and encourages students from diverse backgrounds and cultures to participate.  This partnership reflects the ongoing support Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington has of New Zealand Chamber Music in the pursuit of musical excellence.

Sounds of Te Kōkī – Students Works Concert

It has been so exciting to be a part of the diverse, passionate student community and creative, open-minded environment here at Te Kōkī. Our new concert series Sounds of Te Kōkī is dedicated to providing a relaxed and non-competitive space for this creativity: for new music to be shared, and to encourage collaboration between composition and performance students. The first concert, on September 13th, featured 10 previously un-played pieces by composition students, from headbanging synth bops to atmospheric solo banjo, 5-piece chamber works to live-coding and live-processed trumpet. The atmosphere was upbeat, with enthusiastic whoops and applause at the end of every piece, while conversation and feedback flowed electric over biscuits during the interval.

It was also a great chance for us to collaborate with people from other disciplines who generously aided all the artists involved. The concert was professionally recorded by Petty Cash Records (Sean Metcalf and Fergus Fry), with videography by William Cho and photography by Jeremy McLean.  The resulting album, Sounds of Te Kōkī – Students Works Concert 2019, is available on YouTube, iTunes, and Spotify. It’s well worth a listen here.

Keep an eye out for the next concert in May 2020!

National Youth Brass Band

Even in the Summer holidays, NZSM students are fully booked with events, tours, and practice! The 2020 National Youth Brass Band has recently held in the South Island with Bay of Plenty conductor Alan Spence at the helm. The course required all members to go through an audition process and eager weeks of waiting to see if they were successful with their application. NZSM boasted the most tertiary students involved in the course with brass students Isabella Thomas, Liam Bewley, Reuben Brown (all 3rd year), Clarke Spence and Kodi Rasmussen (2nd Year), and composition student Daniel Dalgleish all gaining a seat within the band. Past student Andrew Yorkstone and NZSM Euphonium Artist Teacher Byron Newton were also present on the tour as tutors for the younger musicians, with Byron taking the role of guest soloist with the band.

They met in Christchurch for only 3 days of practice before their first concert at the Ngaio Marsh Theatre at the University of Canterbury. Then a short tour further South with concerts in Oamaru, Roxburgh, and finishing in the Brass Band hotspot of Invercargill. The Roxburgh concert was outstandingly difficult, as the ensemble faced mid 30's temperature during their evening concert - certainly a reason to remove their bowties and suit jackets

The music set for the course was very demanding, as many of the pieces were written for A-grade bands (the highest level of brass banding in New Zealand). Byron Newton brought his looping station along for the tour and set a challenge for the band with a newly commissioned piece from another ex-NZSM graduate, Jack Bewley. Bewley's Hard Return for solo euphonium (with looping station) and band accompaniment was well received, as it showed the precise and articulate playing of the band, as they meticulously followed the outstanding entrepreneurship which Byron brought to the music. Daniel Dalgleish also arranged two pieces, including a clear favorite for the band - Some Skunk Funk.

When they weren't actually playing, the band had a rich social life while on tour. Highlights include visiting the Jimmy's Pies Bakery with a quick swim in the Clutha River in Roxburgh and giving the hostel cat in Oamaru a warm place to sleep alongside a student. The final night in Invercargill was a long one, as the team celebrated a successful tour with a prize giving, and a fun night of music and drinks to party.

The applications for the 2021 National Youth Brass Band will be out in the middle of the year, and NZSM encourages all brass and percussion students to apply for this great opportunity to represent the School and New Zealand.

Photos from our students' trip to Sichuan, China

Kia Ora from Chengdu, China! NZSM Students Ellen Murfitt, Devyn Fowles, Sullivan van der Hoeven, Sarah Rathbun and Leah Thomas landed in Sichuan to play with the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra!

AWARDS, AWARDS AND MORE AWARDS!

During 2019 and the beginning of 2020 we have had a variety of competitions showcasing our talented NZSM students and Alumni. 

Merle Higgie Opera Prize for Potential

Congratulations to Michaela Cadwgan on her most promising newcomer award!

Roxy Film Score Competition

Congratulations to Jacqueline Boothe for her winning film score for Caminandes 3: Llamigos

EVENTS

O Matou Malaga, Our Voyage

When: Saturday 22 February, 2.30 pm
Where: Te Rauparaha Arena
Buy tickets here

Grammy Award-winning Bass Baritone Jonathan Lemalu joins Porirua’s own Virtuoso Strings, winners of the People’s Choice Award at the NZCT Chamber Music 2019 Nationals, for a special afternoon of vibrant and moving music, and the first performance of the Te Ata Festival.

The esteemed Sinfonia for Hope Orchestra, drawn from musicians of New Zealand School of Music, Orchestra Wellington and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra add their support to this celebration of arts and creativity for all and the growth of our country’s top talent.

Afternoon Live 

Come along to Afternoon Live during New Students' Orientation and hear local Victoria University of Wellington talent and enjoy an afternoon of relaxed entertainment in the Hub.

There's $400 worth of prizes up for grabs, and each act will be given a five-minute slot to perform to a live audience. Mitch from the Edge will be MC for the afternoon and the winner(s) will be decided by audience vote and announced at the conclusion of the Afternoon Live competition.

YOUNG MUSICIANS CONCERTS

Young Musicians Programme Classical Concert

 When: 23 May 2020 

Where: TBC

Students of the NZSM’s pre-tertiary Young Musicians Programme piano, wind, string, voice, and chamber classes perform in their final concert for the year. Participants range from 9–18 years of age, and Grade 3 to diploma level.

Young Musicians Programme Jazz Concert

When:  21 September 2020

Where: SU310, Student Union Building, Kelburn campus

Students of the NZSM’s pre-tertiary Young Musicians Programme Jazz Class perform jazz standards in three combos. Participants range from 9–18 years of age.

FRIDAY LUNCHTIME CONCERTS

MUSIC FORUM

Music Forum – Trimester 1 2020

On selected Wednesdays during the trimester: 12:00–1:00 pm, Room 006, 86 Fairlie Terrace (unless otherwise noted).

Music Forum is a seminar series hosted by the NZSM Music Studies Programme. Staff, graduate students and distinguished visiting speakers present recently completed research or discuss work in progress. Topics range across historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory and analysis and jazz studies, among other subdisciplines of music studies.

Music Forum is open to all members of the University community and the public. Admission is free.

4 March

Alison Blair (University of Otago)

Block Buster! The Sweet and the Politics of Laughter in 1970s British Glam Rock

Alison Blair, in the final stages of a PhD in Performing Arts at the University of Otago, explores 1970s British glam rock as a carnivalesque genre, and in terms of gender, sexual and class politics of the era. She has published chapters on David Bowie and Marc Bolan, in Global Glam: Style and Spectacle from the 1970s to the 2000s (ed, Ian Chapman and Henry Johnson, Routledge, 2016) and David Bowie and Transmedia Stardom (ed. Ana Cristina Mendes and Lisa Perrott, Routledge, 2019).

SUPPORT THE MUSICIANS, COMPOSERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE FUTURE

For some of New Zealand's most talented musicians, the only thing that stands in the way of their dreams is the lack of funds to make them real. For further information on how you can provide support for students at the New Zealand School of Music, please contact either: