Welcome to the Dawn Chorus newsletter for December, our final issue for 2018. You'll find lots of news below, along with details of two PhD student recitals that are coming up.  

We're ridiculously proud that NZSM's Dr Inge van Rij has been given a 2018 Marsden Fund award, widely regarded as the hallmark of excellence for research in New Zealand. You can read more about her research below. 

In alumni news, NZSM jazz graduates Drax Project are further on their way to world-domination after their wins at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards, and three NZSM alumni will be singing alongside the London Symphony Orchestra in December.

We'll be back in the new year - until then we wish you all an enjoyable summer (after this drizzle is over!) with lots of good music. 

Marsden Fund award for Inge van Rij

Inge van Rij's Marsden Fund award of $614,000 will go towards research that will make visible the women who challenged nineteenth century gender norms by playing in public orchestras. The NZSM has a notable history with the Marsden Fund, with Peter Walls having been among the first to receive a Marsden grant for a humanities project in the 1990s; but Inge’s award is the first to have been given to a staff member of the NZSM since her own Fast Start award fifteen years ago.

Drax Project wins big at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards

New Zealand School of Music jazz graduates Drax Project went home with the award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Single of the Year at the 2018 VNZMAs.

Music Therapy graduate on Breakfast TV

Libby Johns, an NZSM Music Therapy Graduate, was on Breakfast TV recently talking to Jack Tame about how music therapy can provide an outlet for those struggling to connect.

Violin concerto by Michael Norris to be premiered on Saturday

On Saturday 1 December, Orchestra Wellington will perform the premiere of Sama, a new violin concerto by Michael Norris, with Amalia Hall as soloist. Sama (‘listening’ in Arabic), is a Sufi ceremony that includes singing, dancing, music, poetry and prayers, and Michael’s violin concerto tries to capture the same sense of two vast realms – the earth and the sky – with dancers whirling ecstatically between them. 

Watch: Suffrage Songs Recomposed

SOUNZ have released videos from our Suffrage Songs Recomposed concert held on 14 October. Check out the trailer here or the individual songs below.  

Ariana Tikao - Clinging Things
Emma Bernard - Old Ballad
Jasmine Lovell-Smith - Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be?
Susan Frykberg - Dr Hodgkinson and Women Voters
Alison Isadora - That One Man (Shall Not)
Miriama Young - Suffrage Song
Ruby Solly - Precious are the Things (That Fly Without Wings)
Chanelle Davis - Papa Minds the Baby

The Wire reviews Aotearoa Audio Arts

The Wire, one of the world's best independent music magazines, has published a review of our Aotearoa Audio Arts festival, written by Martyn Pepperall. 

Bavarian musicians on Matiu/Somes island during WW1

NZSM Associate Professor Samantha Owens tells the fascinating story of a German band held as prisoners of war on Matiu/Somes Island for almost 5 years during World War 1.

London Symphony Orchestra concert to feature three NZSM alumni

Three New Zealand School of Music - Te Kōkī voice alumni have been cast in London Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming performance of Bernstein’s operetta Candide. 

Student spotlight: Jake Church

Jake Church
Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours in Classical Performance, Master of Musical Arts in Performance

Jake, who has recently finished his Master of Musical Arts in Performance (classical guitar), has received a Judith Clark Memorial Fellowship to develop his PhD proposal in Sweden under the aegis of Stefan Östersjö, Professor of Musical Performance at Luleå University, and Associate Professor of Artistic Research in Music at Malmö Academy of Music, Lund University. Jake’s project will focus on the interactions between Māori and New Zealand western art cultures through structured improvisation. We asked Jake a few questions about his study at NZSM.

Why did you choose to study at Victoria?

I wanted to study classical guitar and pursue it as my career—Victoria University of Wellington was the only place where I felt I could develop my chops in New Zealand. Studying guitar in a well-resourced university like Victoria University has kept me interested and motivated.

Tell us about studying classical guitar.

I studied the classical guitar because I’m obsessed with the art of performing this plucked-acoustic-nylon-string instrument. Dr Jane Curry taught me to aim for sound production with full-tone and effortless facility. This approach has become a foundation for my general guitar style.

Why Welly?

Wellington is a compact and inclusive city where art flourishes. The southerly wind sucks (you kind of get used to it), but it does make those sunny days a bit brighter. I can’t imagine not living in Wellington—it’s a place where I feel driven. 

Do you have any advice for current/future students?

It’s important to take advantage of the vast amount of opportunities at the University, even if it’s something you’d never think of doing before. Preparing and executing my best within these opportunities has exposed me to new people, communities and interests. I have been able to develop the practice of my discipline and future post-university work options.

Events

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: