Another new commission piece
We are delighted to once again have commissioned a new piece of Christmas music from an up and coming New Zealand composer. Our composer this year is Hannah Jones.
Hannah was born in the United States but has lived in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland since she was four years old. She is currently studying Computer Science, IT Management, and Music Composition at the University of Auckland. Her passion for music began, like many others, with the piano, but she transitioned to the alto saxophone as her primary instrument at age 11. Her love for choral music developed during her time at Westlake Girls High School, where she performed in the award-winning Cantare and Chorolation choirs.
In Year 12, Hannah’s talent for composition was recognised when she won the NZCT Junior Chamber Composition Award, sparking her passion for composing.
Hannah’s compositional style is multifaceted. Lately, she has been exploring the role of text in music and how it can be used to emphasize or obscure its meaning.
Her piece Heaven Sings is set to Sara Teasdale’s poem Christmas Carol. In this work, Hannah gradually transitions from a traditional choral style to a more contemporary approach. She sought to honour the deep significance of Christmas traditions in many people’s lives while simultaneously experimenting with fresh and innovative elements in her composition.
Continuing the Tradition
Once again Cantorum has commissioned a new piece for their annual Christmas concert. This year Grace Wellik is our composer.
Born and raised in Wellington, Grace Wellik is currently studying composition at The University of Auckland. Her love for music started with singing and piano lessons at the age of eight, and expanded throughout her time at Wellington Girls College where she composed and arranged music for productions, directed ensembles, and sang with multiple choirs. She is currently singing with the New Zealand Youth Choir, Auckland Chamber Choir, and Auckland Youth Choir, alongside training with the New Zealand Choral Federation as a Young Conductor.
As a young New Zealand composer, Wellik is interested in marrying traditional classical compositional ideas and techniques with a voice that is modern, fantastical, and undeniably New Zealand. Her works aim to simultaneously transport listeners into whimsical and nostalgic narratives, whilst having a base that shares the stories and voices of Aotearoa New Zealand.
October 2023
A New Commission Piece
In 2021 Anita Banbury commissioned a new piece from Jessie Leov as part of her passion for supporting New Zealand composers. Due to Covid restrictions Cantorum were not able to perform her piece, but we are aiming to do so at our Christmas concert on 10 December 2022.
Based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Jessie Leov is a composer, musician, and music educator with a diverse background in the arts. Her work has been performed, work shopped or commissioned by groups including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Chamber Choir, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, NZTrio, Red Scare Theatre Company, Celebris Ensemble (USA) and Creative Waikato.
Jessie’s recent work for piano trio, convergency, was a winning work of the 2021 NZTrio AudioVisualise Composing Competition and was premiered by NZTrio in Auckland in May 2022.
Her orchestral work, marble, bark, silver, was selected to be recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington at the 2022 NZ Composer Sessions, an annual collaboration between the NZSO, RNZ Concert and SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music.
Jessie completed a Master of Music in Composition at the University of Auckland in 2021 under the supervision of Dr Leonie Holmes and Dr David Chisholm.
August 2022
Supporting New Zealand Composers
Musical Director Anita Banbury has a passion for supporting New Zealand composers. For the third year, through funding gifted by Anita, Cantorum has commissioned a new piece of music from an up and coming composer, which will premiered at our Christmas concert.
This year our composer is Rosa Elliott, a young composer from Christchurch, where she recently completed a BMUS and BA at the University of Canterbury majoring in Composition and English Literature. Rosa is currently completing her Honours in Composition at the University of Auckland.
In 2017, Rosa was recognised as a winner of the NZTrio Composition Competition for Voices of the Air. Rosa has since won two Douglas Lilburn Composition Prizes for her works Landfall for solo percussion, and What Have You Done to Your Rivers? for chamber orchestra, which is to be recorded by the NZSO in September 2020 as part of the NZ Composer Recording Sessions.
July 2020
CANTORUM 