Synthony 2017

Saturday night is going to be a totally epic night as Synthony kicks off in Auckland. DJ + vocalists + choir + symphony orchestra + an incredible visual feast which I'm not sure the Town Hall has ever seen before.

"Leave your Nan at home, THIS IS NOT AN ORCHESTRA AS YOU KNOW IT or a sit down affair... this an event you will lose your sh*t at."

And yes, the rumours are true, I'll be up the back thrashing the tambourine and caressing the thunder sheet as part of our impressive percussion section.

But, it's been quite a journey leading up to this, and I haven't actually posted much about it, so here's a run down.

July 2016, the journey begins. Peter Thomas calls me and says he’s got a great gig on the horizon. He always does, but this time I knew it was special. He explains the concept and sends me off to watch the Ibiza Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Online, not in person! I watch it. I’m sold. I’m in.

My first real taste of the project was in March when the first two arrangements were done and recorded for the promotional video. Wow, got the feels.

Two arrangements down. Eighteen to go.

For a few years, Peter Thomas and I have pondered doing a project where we could get young secondary school arrangers involved. There is always opportunities for composers, but there are some hugely talented young arrangers looking for experience. We knew this project was perfect, and so we recruited: Tom Lawton, Ki Hoon Sung, Matthew Beardsworth, Sarah Rathbun, Vivien Whyte, Lauren Tantrum, Angeline Xiao and Weihong Yi. Legends. I briefed them and mentored them along the way, sending countless emails of feedback and reassurance.

I also got to work on the rest of the show. Transcribing, arranging, and editing the electronic tracks with DJ Erika Amoore (who along with David Elmsly are the two behind the event). Here's a bit about what I was doing (and yes, this was shot before they knew how to spell my name correctly):

The show launches, and... it sells out. Fast. The absolute boost I needed as I was working day and night to complete the arrangements. Everyone starts getting really excited. Erika and I get interviewed on Radio NZ. What a blast. Have a listen:

The tracks mentioned in the interview were Robert Miles by Children, Right Here, Right Now by Fatboy Slim and Silence by Delerium. Want to know what the other tracks are? No, not likely, come to the show.

So early September arrives and I'm done. The 20 orchestra scores and 580 instrumental parts (who's counting?) are proofread and it's all off to the printer.

Breathe.

Massive shout out to Erika, David and Peter who dreamt up this event, brought me onboard and have all been absolutely wonderful to work with. Special thanks to the Auckland Symphony Orchestra for doing an almighty job playing all the notes.

Three rehearsals down, two to go. If you've got a ticket, you're in for a treat. Bring your best dance shoes. Carb load. You know the deal.

#bestjobintheworld

Musical adventures in Europe

If you have been following my twitter page you will know that I have just got back from an absolutely wonderful seven weeks in Europe. While most of the time my wife and I were doing our best to elegantly float from historic building to museum to gallery..., we did manage to make the most of the amazing musical offerings that Europe provides. We saw two orchestral concerts - the first being the London Symphony at the Barbican playing Brahms' 3rd symphony and 2nd piano concerto (photo above). Daniel Harding was at the helm with Emanuel Ax on piano. The second was the Czech Philharmonic in Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum. Jiří Bělohlávek conducted Martinů's "What Men Live By" and then Dvořák's Slavonic Dances. Such a thrill to hear Dvořák played in his own concert hall by an orchestra that he conducted the first concert of in 1896. Amazing also to hear how two of the world's top orchestras can sound so completely different.

We of course also snuck in the obligatory West End show - The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre. While it certainly impressed we couldn't help but notice a lack of spontaneity and freshness that comes with performing a show every... single... day of the year. However, it WAS great, and we loved checking out West End and neighbouring Covent Garden.

Perhaps one of the most special offerings was my afternoon spent at Abbey Road Studios. Through my work on two of The Hobbit films I met with the legendary Jill Streater - she has worked as music copyist on about 102 films including The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Casino Royale, Alice in Wonderland, The King's Speech, The Chronicles of Narnia and Gravity. I got in touch and she happened to be working on a project at Abbey Road while we were in London. It was so wonderful to meet her in person, chat about music prep, check out the studios and then observe the session. Oh, and I tried really hard not to have a 'crazy-teenage-fangirl' moment in the corridor as I passed Alexandre Desplat. Such an incredible place and so special to be able to spend some time there.

Everything else in this post will seem completely insignificant after the last paragraph, but I will continue... While we may not have seen concerts at these venues, we made sure we checked out the most impressive of the concert halls, including the Berlin Philharmonie - where we missed a Sir Simon Rattle led rehearsal by about 5mins (oh, the heartbreak, seriously), Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Royal Albert Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Musical instrument museums were in abundance - the one beside the Berlin Philharmonie was particularly impressive, as are the statues of the greats which make a great photo spot. I think we got to Strauss, Schubert, Bruckner, Mozart and Beethoven. We got to some old homes too - Handel's apartment in London, Mozart's apartment in Vienna, and his birth and childhood homes in Salzburg. It seems Vienna and Salzburg have a battle going on about who owns Mozart - either way, he earns both cities a lot of money as you can buy Mozart ANYTHING, from stress balls to underwear, chocolate to coffee, and of course the obligatory coasters and tea towels.

Well, let's leave the commercialisation of music and return to two final experiences that were absolute highlights. We'd been told to head up the hill in Florence to the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte where each evening at 4:30pm you can listen to the monks from the adjoining Olivetan Monastery singing in the crypt. While people came and went, we couldn't help but stay for the whole 50mins or so - we were absolutely captivated. Who knows what they were saying, but musically it was incredible.

Finally, in Salzburg on Christmas Eve we waited in the freezing temperatures to get a spot at the Midnight Mass in Salzburg Cathedral. It ended with four soloists singing "Silent Night" (which was written in Salzburg) by candlelight, accompanied by acoustic guitar, and with interludes from the divine organ and church choir. You could have heard a pin drop in the capacity-filled cathedral. Magic. As was every taste of music we had, and the whole trip.

Plenty of music for Music Month

Well it's the last day of NZ Music Month, so that's a good excuse to post about a few projects I've been working on lately. I've been a bit quiet online in recent months so here's a good chance to make up for that.

Picture This! is a new work I've written for the Long Bay College Concert Band. They won gold at the KBB Music Festival last year so a new work had to take shape! I spent last weekend with them at their rehearsal camp and had loads of fun. Look out for Picture This! at this year's festival.

My friends at Diocesan School for Girls have commissioned two new works for their groups:

I ask of you no poetry is for their award-winning elite choir, St Cecelia Singers, and is written for SSA choir, handbells and organ (with text by Madeleine Ballard). Kiwi in Appalachia is for their chamber ensemble consisting of flute, Bb clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, 2 violins, viola and piano (cello part also available). It's a standalone piece but for this group was written to be used in conjunction with my arrangement of Copland's Appalachian Spring. I'm hoping to get along to see some rehearsals soon and will post some performance dates when available.

I have also just written Unwrapped for the St Matthew's Chamber Orchestra which was premiered last Sunday. I've written about it here, check it out.

Back in April was the 48Hour Film Festival and although we didn't get far this year with our film, On The Rocks, it was great to work with the guys from Sideways Productions once again. The music turned out nicely (finally, I got to use almost all strings!) and I later arranged it into a one movement work - listen here:

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Another film by these guys that I did the music for, Sounds Perfect, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival during May - I posted about it here, check it out.

In conducting news I had a great weekend down at the Bay of Plenty Music School working with the concert band. I was so happy with the standard they reached - read about my weekend here. I'm also currently working with the Auckland Symphony Chorus - preparing them for the Auckland Symphony Orchestra's hugely popular "Night of the Proms" concerts at the end of June. Great to have "Song of the Lonely Mountain" as part of the programme - a song I did the preparation of for "The Hobbit" movie two years ago.

That's all for now. A few other projects on the go, but I'll save those for a future post!

Stretch your vocal chords with Auckland Symphony!

The Auckland Symphony Orchestra's famous Night of the Proms concerts are in June and once again you are invited to get involved with the annual outing of the Auckland Symphony Chorus. It is loads of fun, musical director Peter Thomas says:

We have a great programme planned with the choir singing a range of patriotic favourites as well as music from opera and the shows, along with superb soloists, as well as the obligatory flags, balloons, costumes, streamers, fun and loud noises! This promises to be yet another unforgettable performance event.

Previous choral experience is required but there are no auditions for this performance. Click the image below for more details or register here and join us for this experience.

2011 through the eyes of a blog

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:

• An exploration “Behind Bars”
• About to bop at the BOP Music School
• Microscore May

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:

• "blimp", for orchestra
• A recipe for Soul Food
• Great company, excellent food … and some music

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":

• May Microscores – a ginormous month of tiny things
• “blimp” lands in Auckland

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

• 48 hours to say “Goodbye Gilbert”

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

• KBB Music Festival stretching its legs
• Composition tutorials 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:

• Kicking off the Rugby World Cup 2011
• Music preparation – what and why!

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:

• Christmas carols for violin and viola
• Happy Holidays

Happy New Year everyone, bring on 2012!

Kicking off the Rugby World Cup 2011

The biggest sporting event to ever hit New Zealand is this year's Rugby World Cup. It has been a massive success and we eagerly await the final tonight between New Zealand and France. The opening night was an amazing showcase of New Zealand and I was super proud to be involved.

Victoria Kelly was the musical director for the opening ceremony and invited me to do the copying work for all of the new music. She was writing in Logic and sent the sessions to me (via Gobbler, I LOVE Gobbler) to bring through to Sibelius where I prepared the scores and parts - tidying notation, adding articulation, dynamics and everything needed to make beautifully clear music. In three days I made:

• 39 scores
• 116 instrumental parts
• 525 copies of those parts ready for the players and conductor

Here is everything on my floor, proofread and re-proofread, sorted and re-sorted, and ready to be packed up.

I then went to the recording sessions at York Street Studios and made sure there were parts on the stands for the beginning of each session with the Auckland Philharmonia.

What a joy!!

Sounds great! I want it, I want it now

I have had quite a few enquiries as to where to buy or hire some of my pieces lately, so here is a reminder. First stop is SOUNZ. Here is a list of titles they currently have:

• Guardians of the North wind orchestra
• Heedless Conclusions for SATB choir
• In Their Light for string quartet
• Moana Ataahua for orchestra with SATB choir
• Rakaia for full orchestra
• Reclusion for mixed chamber septet
• Somnium for full orchestra
• Subsidence for full orchestra
• The Attic for string ensemble
• The Attic for flute, clarinet in A, violin I, violin II, viola, violoncello and double bass
• This Day for piano solo
• Through my eyes, I see for piano and percussion
• Wild Daisies for SSA choir

If they don't have it, then contact me and I will sort you out no problem!

Wild Daisies premiere

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.