http://www.creative.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/events/template/event_item.jsp?cid=290651

1 September 2010 to 3 September 2010

The School of Music at The University of Auckland will again host this 3-day research symposium on the topic of electroacoustic music. Several of New Zealand’s prominent composer-researchers will be in attendance, including John Elmsly, Eve de Castro Robinson, John Coulter, Ian Whalley, Susan Frykberg, Michael Norris, John Cousins, and Chris Cree Brown. Professor John Young (DMU) will be delivering the keynote presentation. As a special feature of the symposium, a 26-channel discrete ‘acousmonium’ will be installed in Studio One, Kenneth Myers Centre, 74 Shortland St, for the duration of the 3-day event.

Concerts open to the public

Sonic Art 2010
7pm, Thursday 2 September

Works by associate artists of NZEMS 2010, including Arrivederci (for ensemble) and electroacoustic music by Professor John Young.

Tickets: $15 full price, $10 concessions
Venue: Music Theatre, School of Music, 6 Symonds Street, Auckland

Diffused Works Lunchtime Series
1pm Wednesday 1 September: Young composers
1pm Thursday 2 September: Video works
1pm Friday 3 September: Established composers

Admission free, but seating is limited – bookings required. Contact nzems@auckland.ac.nz
Venue: Studio One, Kenneth Myers Centre, 74 Shortland Street, Auckland

NZEMS 2010 is proudly supported by Protel.

Time and place:
From 1-3 September 2010 The School of Music University of Auckland will host a 3-day research symposium on the topic of Electroacoustic Music. Several of New Zealand’s prominent Composer-Researchers will be in attendance including Phil Dadson (TBC), John Elmsly, Eve de Castro Robinson, John Coulter, Ian Whalley, Susan Frykberg, Michael Norris, John Cousins, and Chris Cree Brown. Professor John Young (DMU) will be delivering the keynote presentation. As a special feature of the symposium a 26-channel discrete ‘acousmonium’ will be installed in Studio One Kenneth Myers Centre 74 Shortland St for the duration of the 3-day event.

The special theme of NZEMS 2010 is ‘ Multi-Channel Electoacoustic Music’
Research in the field of multi-channel electroacoustic music continues to advance at an alarming rate. The once standard 8-channel speaker configuration has now given way to a range of multi-speaker spaced and zoned arrays as variable as the creative works presented on them. Multi-zone and ambisonic field recording has become a typical method of acquiring source materials, and new tools for multi-track spatialisation and transformation are constantly being developed. Hyper-instruments too, many of which are designed to capture human gesture, have made their way into the multi-channel production process, while in the context of live performance, the combination of acoustic and multi-channel electroacoustic instruments is providing vocal and instrumental composers and sonic artists alike with pioneering opportunities.

The scholars of acoustic and spectral space (Bayle, Bregman, Emmerson, Haas, Hall, Lennox, Oliveros, Russo, Schafer, Smalley, et al) remind us that the language of the domain is far from arbitrary – rather, that the effective aesthetics we experience in listening to multi-channel works is founded on more general principles relating to human genetics and experience. Several questions arise: Is the articulation of space at the heart of the language of electroacoustic music? Are there different types/genuses of spaces? What is the relationship between the proximity/location of loudspeakers and the proximity cues of the musical materials? What importance does sound spectra hold in the reception of spatiality? Is the division of space into ‘zones’ a useful heuristic procedure? How does the presence of a human performer impact on the space of a live multi-channel performance? How is space perceived in multichannel sound/multimedia installations (where participants are free to roam within a multi-channel sonic environment)?

Call for presentations of research
Presentation of research are called for concerning all aspects of multi-channel electroacoustic composition. However, submissions are not limited to this field. Research presentations from the following domains are also welcome:

• Performance-Based Electroacoustic Music / Sonic Art (with live electronics and/or acoustic instruments and/or dance)
• Acousmatic Electroacoustic Music / Sonic Art
• Electroacoustic Music with Moving Images,
• Interactive Installation / Sonic Sculpture,
• Electroacoustic Music / Sonic Art with other disciplines.

Each spoken presentation will be 20-min in duration with 10-min reserved for questions. The inclusion of creative work as part of the presentation is encouraged. Stereo playback and data projection will be made available to all presenters. A basic eight-channel playback system will be made available to presenters on request.

Associated events:
Delegates are welcome to submit creative works for inclusion in the concert series; however, space in these events is extremely limited, as a number of high-profile New Zealand composers have already accepted invitations to present.

Concerts for Diffused (stereo) Works (seating for 60)
• 1pm 1 September, Kenneth Myers Centre – Young Composers Lunchtime Concert (acousmonium)
• 1pm 2 September, Kenneth Myers Centre – Video Works Lunchtime Concert (acousmonium)
• 1pm 3 September, Kenneth Myers Centre – Established Composers Lunchtime Concert (acousmonium)

Concert for Live Works - SONIC ART 2010
• 7-9pm 2 September, School of Music Theatre (multichannel system available)

Concerts for Multi-Channel Works – repeat performances (seating for 9)
• 6-9pm 1 September, Kenneth Myers Centre – (acousmonium)
• 2-6pm 3 September, Kenneth Myers Centre – (acousmonium)

Guidelines for submissions
The deadline for receipt of proposals (abstracts and biographies of contributors) is Friday 30 July 2010. Submissions are to be made electronically to nzems@auckland.ac.nz. Send abstracts of 200-300 words plus a short biography. Please ensure that your name, institutional / organizational affiliation (if any), contact address, telephone, and preferred e-mail address are included on the abstract. Paper acceptance decisions will be emailed to applicants by Friday 6 August 2010

Registration details
To register on-line please visit http://www.creative.auckland.ac.nz/nzems. All NZEMS events are free, with the exception of the Sonic Art concert on 2 September ($15). Concerts for Multi-Channel Works will be closed to the public (available to NZEMS delegates only)

Contact details
For further details including programme information please visit http://www.creative.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/nzems or contact the NZEMS events manager directly. nzems@auckland.ac.nz

Complimentary tickets are available for composers to attend Sonnets Unplugged, a fully-orchestrated original drama setting 16 of Shakespeare’s sonnets to music by Gareth Farr.

Auckland Town Hall / Fri 18 June / 1.30pm

Christchurch Town Hall / Thurs 24 June / 9.30am

Wellington Town Hall / Wed 30 June / 12 noon

BOOKINGS REQUESTS: musicforschools@nzso.co.nz

Sonnets Unplugged is the world premiere of a fully-orchestrated original drama, setting 16 of Shakespeare’s sonnets to music by Gareth Farr. It’s brought to life by actors Rima Te Wiata and Kristian Lavercombe, who reveal the sonnets in a new way by linking them into a strong storyline based around three characters – the poet, his mistress, and his muse.

Anyone who loves the language of love should not miss this concert! Gareth calls it a darkly passionate “sound world” full of acting, song and dance.

William Shakespeare will never be the same!

The SOUNZ Contemporary Award is the most prestigious annual award for ‘contemporary classical’ music in New Zealand. First presented in 1998, the award seeks to recognise compositional excellence and inspiration in the works of Kiwi composers in the previous year.

It is a collaborative project of the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and SOUNZ. New Zealand composers who are also APRA members may submit up to two works which have been premiered in public between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2010. There is no restriction on duration and the works can be for solo, chamber, ensemble, choral, orchestral, electro-acoustic or any combination of these.

The entry deadline is Monday 14 June, 2010 and an entry form can be downloaded here.

The award, consisting of a trophy designed and made by Auckland sculptor Sarah Smuts Kennedy and $3000 cash prize, is presented each year at the APRA Silver Scroll awards ceremony. This year that event will be held in Auckland on Wednesday 8 September.

More information, including a list of past finalists and winners, can be found here.

ORGANZ holds an bi-annual composition competition to provide opportunities for composers and to add to the repertoire of the organ.

Entries are now open for the 2010-2011 Composition Competition. The winning piece(s) will be presented at the Jubilee Congress in Auckland, June 2011.

Criteria and Entry Form can be found here.

The 2008-2009 Competition was jointly won by Graham Parsons and Michael Bell.

175 East announce their first concerts of 2010 in Christchurch and Auckland. The concerts include the world premieres of works by New Zealand composers Alexandra Hay, Samuel Holloway, Dylan Lardelli, Chris Watson and Alex Wolken.

The ensemble is joined by guest guitarist Dylan Lardelli who performs in his own new composition, commissioned by 175 East with funding from Creative New Zealand.

The concerts will be preceded by solo guitar improvisations by Greg Malcolm (Christchurch) and Nigel Gavin (Auckland).

CHRISTCHURCH
7pm Friday April 9, Maurice Till Concert Hall, Music Centre of Christchurch, 140 Barbadoes Street
$20/$10 (door sales only)

AUCKLAND
7pm Sunday April 11, Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre
$20/$10*
*Service fees will apply
Book now at www.buytickets.co.nz or 0800 BUY TICKETS
*$11 per order via phone, $5 per order via web, $1.50 per ticket via mail via box office.

A reminder that applications for the NZSO NYO Composer-in-Residence Award 2010 are due by Friday 18 December at 5pm.

Now in it sixth year, the NZSO NYO Composer-in-Residence Award has provided a unique platform for some of the most exciting young musical voices in New Zealand to be heard. Previous winners have included Robin Toan, Claire Cowan, Karlo Margetic, Tabea Squire and last year’s winner Natalie Hunt.

The winning composer will join the NZSO NYO residency and will have their work performed in Wellington and Auckland. It will be recorded for broadcast by Radio New Zealand Concert and will be released on a souvenir CD of the NZSO National Youth Orchestra performances. The composer will be mentored by one of New Zealand’s eminent established composers and will also receive the most recent version of Sibelius music writing software with free training from MusiTech Ltd (NZ), a free subscription to CANZ and a 12 months membership to the SOUNZ library.

Qualifications for entry are

* Entrants must be a New Zealand resident or citizen.
* Composers must be 25 years of age or younger on 31 December 2010.
* Maximum 5 minutes duration.
* All entries must be submitted in computer generated format on unbound single-sided A4 paper. A complete instrumentation listing must be provided at the beginning of the score as well as the duration.
* One entry per person
* The entry must be for full symphony orchestra without soloists in a concert opener, overture/fanfare style.
* Maximum instrumentation is as follows:
3333 – 4431 – sax - Tmp+5 - Hp - Pf – strings (including piccolo, English horn, Eb clarinet, bass clarinet and contrabassoon)
* The entry must be a fully original work, not previously offered to any other organisation. It must not have been performed in rehearsal, concert or workshopped.

The NZSO NYO reserves the right to disqualify any entry that does not adhere to these requirements.

Important dates:

18 December 2009: Applications forms to be received
5 March 2010: Orchestral score to be received
3 May 2010: Parts and score to be delivered by selected composer.
19 August to 28 August 2010: NYO residency period

AUCKLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Composer-in-Residence 2010

The Auckland Youth Orchestra is seeking expressions of interest for the position of its Composer in Residence for the 2010 season. Candidates must be under 26 years of age at the time of application.

The candidate will be someone who presents the best ideas for a composition appropriate for a youth orchestra, will benefit the most from holding the residency and from the activities and opportunities associated with it.

The composer in residence will have the following opportunities:
• Composing a work of no less than 3 minutes and no more than 5 minutes duration for the core instrumentation and resources of the orchestra. This work to be premiered during the orchestra’s 2010 season.
• Composing one minor commission, such as a short orchestral work suitable for an education concert, a fanfare or overture, a chamber work, an occasional piece for a special event or other works to be agreed.

Each expression of interest should include the following:
• a CV, including references if possible
• a score of at least one relevant and representative work, preferably accompanied by a sound file or recording
• a covering letter specifically addressing the following:
how the candidate would benefit from the residency
- how the candidate would be able to fulfill the role of the composer in residence as described above
- specific ideas the candidate has in mind as major and minor commissions

Please note that scores and recordings will not be returned.
Please do not send originals.

Applications are due by Monday 14 December 2009. Late applications may still be considered.

Please send to:
Antun Poljanich, Music Director, Auckland Youth Orchestra
c/o St Peters College, Mountain Road, Newmarket, Auckland
a.poljanich@st-peters.school.nz

A concert of New Zealand wind music by the Auckland Wind Orchestra, conducted by Ryan Youens.

Don’t miss this wonderful event featuring selections from New Zealand’s finest wind music.

Aue! - Christopher Marshall
The Ballad of Settler McGee - Philip Norman
Earthbound Wings - Yvette Audain
Far Star - Matthew Crawford
Forest Sketches - David Woodcock
Guardians of the North - Ryan Youens

Including two premieres:
The Pensieve - Zyia-Li Teh
Rotorua - Phillip Anderson

$10 waged, $5 unwaged (door sales only)

www.awo.co.nz

The Auckland Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Peter Scholes, and with special guest Helen Medlyn, performs a ‘composer portrait’ of Eve de Castro Robinson.

Sunday 13 September 2009 5:00 PM

“And as for ‘why do I compose?’ There seems to be an inner surge of creative energy which must spring out and manifest itself in musical form. This usually involves much gazing out at trees and water (two life forces) and summoning up embryonic flickers and traces of sounds and ideas which may agree to be shaped and manipulated into larger forms and structures.

“I’m continually trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between being able to allow something to come into being and then to make some personal ‘concrete’ sense of it. I do try to achieve a balance between the peace of mind necessary for depth and clarity of contemplation, and the open and trusting (and therefore extremely vulnerable) state of being that is creative. I can only compose from inner conviction and speak with my heart. And I often return to a statement by Berio, who sees music as ‘a gift to be given and a gift to be received’ “.

http://sounz.org.nz/events/show/1206

http://www.aco.co.nz/2009-a-resonance-of-emerald.php