Tag Archives: premiere

Making music in Rotorua

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It is always fun gathering at the beginning of a weekend with a new group of people and by the end of it presenting a concert of great music. That was the case this weekend at another Bay of Plenty Music School.

Combined orchestras performing "Westside Story"

Combined orchestras performing "Westside Story"

Combined orchestras and choir performing "A Te Tarakihi"

I had a wonderful group of players, we worked hard and had fun putting the music together.

At the informal concert on Saturday night we performed the crowd pleasers:

  • Prokofiev – Triumphal March from ‘Peter and the Wolf’
  • Barry Gray – Thunderbirds

On the Sunday concert we performed:

  • Khachaturian – Armenian Dances
  • Ryan Youens – Bubble
  • Rossini – William Tell Overture (Allegro Vivace)
  • Bernstein/Sondheim - West Side Story (combined with orchestra)
  • Trad. – A Te Tarakihi (combined with orchestra and choir)

It was a pleasure to work with fellow conductors Peter Watts and Peter Thomas - thanks for your support. Thanks to my brilliant wind orchestra players and to those who organised the very successful weekend.

BOP music school hits Rotorua!

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The Bay of Plenty Music School is about to make some music once again!

This year the school is happening between April 13th to 15th in Rotorua. It is an opportunity for choral, orchestral and band musicians to work on some fantastic repertoire in a relaxed environment.

I conducted there last year and it really is a wonderful weekend, meeting some great people, eating some great food and making some fantastic music together.

This year Peter Watts is conducting the choir, Peter Thomas the symphony and chamber orchestras and myself the wind orchestra (concert band/symphonic band…).

In the wind orchestra we will be working on:

  • Rossini – William Tell Overture
  • Prokofiev – Triumphal March from ‘Peter and the Wolf’
  • Ryan Youens – Bubble
  • Bernstein/Sondheim - West Side Story, ‘selections’
  • Khachaturian – Armenian Dances
  • Barry Gray – Thunderbirds
  • Philip Norman – The Ballad of Settler McGee
  • Kamen – Robin Hood Prince of Thieves Suite

It should be another very enjoyable weekend finishing with a concert on Sunday afternoon. If you are interested in attending I would love to see you there. Enrollments need to be in by Monday 2nd April so visit the music school website and download the information and enrollment details.

2011 through the eyes of a blog

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And just like that, another year is gone! Here is a look at my posts for the year.

The blogging year started in March with my favourite book arriving, “Behind Bars”, which I preordered in 2010. It is definitely the most used book on my shelf! I then talked about two approaching projects:

In April I introduced my new work, “blimp”, and reviewed two projects – a song I helped a friend create and my work at the BOP music school:

May was a busy month, so in June I talked about what I had been up to – writing 31 microscores and the premiere of “blimp”:

In July I posted the video I worked on with Sideways Productions:

In August and September I covered my involvement in the KBB Music Festival and some composition tutorials that I held in Kerikeri:

October was the kick off of the Rugby World Cup here in New Zealand, I talked about my involvement in the opening ceremony and also made a post about what exactly I do when “preparing music” and why you would need someone like me to do it:

December means Christmas and I posted some Christmas carols that I prepared for my students. I also composed a new “holiday” piece for my Christmas post:

Happy New Year everyone, bring on 2012!

“blimp” lands in Auckland

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My new work for orchestra, “blimp”, finally landed in Auckland on the 1st of May – premiered by the Auckland Symphony Orchestra at the Auckland Town Hall. It is a short work commissioned by the orchestra and their conductor Peter Thomas. It received a second performance on the 8th of May at the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna. This was followed by its inclusion in their “Proms” concerts on the 18th and 19th of June. A great first month and a half for a new work!

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The orchestra during soundcheck before the premiere. Photo by Keri Moyle (www.signsoflife.co.nz).

“Blimp [noun] a small, non-rigid airship or dirigible, especially one used chiefly for observation.”

The idea I tried to portray is that for me I think of blimps as being slightly odd, awkward to get off the ground and driven by men who are a little loopy; but, once in the air, they jauntily go about their purpose.

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The brass during soundcheck before the premiere. Photo by Keri Moyle (www.signsoflife.co.nz).

I was extremely happy with the performance, the orchestra did a wonderful job and loved playing it. It was also great to get such positive feedback from the audience after all four concerts.

Watch the live performance from 8th May here:

Or listen to a good audio recording here:

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The orchestra and Auckland Town Hall during soundcheck before the premiere. Photo by Keri Moyle (www.signsoflife.co.nz).

blimp, for orchestra

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My new piece for orchestra, blimp, began rehearsals last night. It was commissioned for the Auckland Symphony Orchestra by their conductor, Peter Thomas. It will be premiered at the Auckland Town Hall and Bruce Mason Centre in their May “Up, Up and Away!” concerts.

Inspiration was drawn from the concert theme and with a little help from some friends, blimps seemed an ideal title and topic.

Blimp [noun] a small, non-rigid airship or dirigible, especially one used chiefly for observation.

For me, I think of blimps as being slightly odd, awkward to get off the ground and driven by men who are a little loopy; but, once in the air, they jauntily go about their purpose. I love this idea, and the music hopefully portrays this in its short two minute duration.

Blimp

The concert also features Die Fledermaus Overture, Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2 featuring Hong Yul Yang, Jupiter from “The Planets”, two great movie soundtracks – “Up” by Michael Giacchino and “E.T.” by John Williams – and much more.

Concert 1: Auckland Town Hall, Sunday 1st May, 2:30pm, FREE.

Concert 2: Bruce Mason Centre (Takapuna), Sunday 8th May, 2:30pm, FREE (but ticketed).

It is of course in May, New Zealand Music Month, so you should be overdosing in musical activities – make this one of them. Look forward to seeing you there!

2010 through the eyes of a blog

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It is December 31 and I just wondered “what exactly has happened this year?”

So through the eyes of this blog, let’s have a look. We’ll start with January and the tail end of our South America trip, along with the workshopping and recording of my music in Brazil.

January 4th Leg Four – Argentina to Paraguay to Brazil
January 11th Leg Five – Rio de Janeiro to Paraty to Auckland
January 12th A day with Sphaera

After spending too many hours hunting down good repertoire for my school orchestras, in February I explored the efforts of conducting. I also set up my newsletter with MailChimp.

February 20th Conducting – 90% perspiration, 10% exhilaration
February 26th Automating the monthly issue

It was a plentiful month of posts in March, many on great discoveries I recently made but also highlighted a new piece, Picture for Emily, for my niece.

March 14th Sibelius First – if you’re so inclined
March 15th Moana Ataahua programme launched
March 16th Picture for Emily – aiming for the small market
March 16th Scoring Avatar
March 18th My indispensables
March 19th If Lake Taupo was a piece of music, what would it sound like?

In April it was all about preparing Moana Ataahua for its massive premiere at the ERUPT Lake Taupo Festival.

April 24th Moana Ataahua set to ERUPT in May (article from SOUNZ)
April 28th Moana Ataahua, the rehearsals begin

I explored digital music stands in May, how they compare and how I wanted one. Do I still want one now? That is another post!

May 15th Digital music stands, hook me up – Music Pad, Music Reader, eStand

I summed up the Moana Ataahua premiere in June and did a very popular post on music apps for your iOS devices.

June 1st Moana Ataahua, the premiere
June 2nd iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad apps for the music professional

It was great to see plenty of music getting performed through July.

July 12th Wild Daisies premiere
July 18th Breathe In, Breathe Out – a concert of overtures and finales
July 27th SoundCloud, move your music
July 29th Three pieces performed by Brazil’s Sphaera Ensemble

The Auckland schools orchestra festival happened in August, so did some pondering on music theory.

August 27th Sounds great! I want it, I want it now
August 30th KBB Music Festival 2010, thumbs up
August 31st Music theory, do we need it or not?

Spent a fantastic few days in Wellington in September recording Rakaia with the NZSO. Also, Rhian Sheehan’s amazing score for The Cult, which I helped out with, won best score!

September 9th More iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad apps for the music professional
September 20th The Cult wins at Qantas Film and Television Awards
September 23rd NZSO/SOUNZ Readings 2010

In November I did a three part post looking at music printing, engravers, copyists and how things are changing. I also hooked up Sibelius users with some great resources!

November 29th So, you’re a Sibelius user?
November 30th Music printing, a journey for engravers (part 1 of 3)
November 30th Music copying and confusion (part 2 of 3)
November 30th Changing times for music preparers (part 3 of 3)

As you would expect, I got festive in December but also looked at a new feature for sounz.org.nz.

December 7th A Christmas wish list for composer-musicians
December 24th SOUNZ moves forward, again
December 24th Merry Christmas and very best wishes for the New Year

Happy New Year everyone!!

Wild Daisies premiere

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Last year Kristin School commissioned a piece from me for their amazing award-winning choir, Euphony, to include in their 2010 repertoire. They premiered it at the Auckland Town Hall on Wednesday 16th June 2010. See the video below:

It uses the text from Bub Bridger’s poem, Wild Daisies.

The choir was once again successful in getting through to The Big Sing Finale, along with many other choirs from around New Zealand. You can see the full list of these choirs at The Big Sing website.

Wild Daisies is notated for SSA choir and if anyone is interested in buying a copy please let me know.

SOUNZ supported composition for ERUPT 2010

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(written for, and published at ERUPT Festival blog, 22 December 2009 – image courtesy of www.taupofest.co.nz)

The SOUNZ Community Commission (www.sounz.org.nz) is supporting a new piece from me for the 2010 ERUPT Lake Taupo Festival. This is a fantastic project which I am very happy to be involved with. The piece is written for the community and they will perform it. It also involves text written by those in the community.

The piece is currently being written and although I don’t want to give much away … it will certainly be a celebration of Taupo. I have always loved Taupo and have stayed there many times. Recently when I visited Taupo to meet many of the musical groups there, I was completely blown away by the amount of musical activity. This alone is reason to celebrate.

The lake and the river will help to characterise the work, which will involve numerous groups from the community, who will be announced publicly later.

I have been involved with several projects writing for community groups and so I have enjoyed hitting this one with full force. Writing music is what I do full-time – as well as copying and arranging other peoples music. I also conduct several groups in Auckland. For any more info, or for my blog, see www.ryanyouens.com.

I look forward to this project evolving further, and for it to explode into ERUPT 2010!