Moods of Antarctica, floating spaceships and a pioneer called Alice inspired this year's three finalists in the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, the most prestigious event of the year for New Zealand composers.

Right: Finalist Chris Cree Brown for Icescape
Moods of Antarctica, floating spaceships and a pioneer called Alice inspired this year's three finalists in the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, the most prestigious event of the year for New Zealand composers.

Right: Finalist Chris Cree Brown for Icescape
The 2003 finalists are:
"Icescape" for orchestra by Chris Cree Brown
"Cirrus" for orchestra by Craig Utting
"Alice" - a monodrama for soprano and orchestra by Gillian Whitehead

The jury gave a special commendation to Ross Harris' "Chaconne for solo viola."

"Music must connect and take the listener on a compelling journey," commented one of the panel of judges.

The SOUNZ Contemporary Award ($3000) is supported annually by APRA and awarded to an outstanding NZ composition premiered in the last 12 months.

The top three entries were premiered by three leading NZ orchestras in recent months: The Christchurch Symphony (Icescape), the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (Cirrus) and the Auckland Philharmonia (Alice).

The winner of the award will be announced at the APRA Silver Scroll Awards on Tuesday 28 October.

"New Zealand's composers continue to make judging the SOUNZ Contemporary Award a highly satisfying though difficult task. There were a good number of exceptional works among this year's submissions which we hope will receive many more performances, even though they were not finalists," says Scilla Askew, the Executive Director of SOUNZ.

The award highlights and rewards the creative achievements of NZ composers in the same way the Montana Book Awards do for New Zealand literature.

The $3,000 prize and trophy is given by APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association). Previous winners have been John Psathas, Gillian Whitehead, Ross Harris and Eve de Castro-Robinson.

NZ Wins Top Composers' Award Again

Dylan Lardelli has taken out top spot at this year's Asian Composers League Young Composers Competition held in Tokyo last Saturday (September 20). His piece, "Four Fragments for Chamber Ensemble" beat out entries by young composers from member countries of the Asian Composers League, including Australia, Japan, China, Hong Kong and Israel.

Lardelli is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington where he majored in composition and performance guitar. The win continues New Zealand's fantastic run at the ACL Young Composers Competition.

Last year, Chris Watson won with his composition "Derailleurs" and in the previous competition Michael Norris was placed second.

New Zealanders get a chance to hear ³Four Fragments ² in a concert combining the forces of New Zealand's leading contemporary ensembles, Stroma and 175 East at the (09)03 festival in Auckland on Sunday 26 October.
www.0903.co.nz

Lardelli's travel to Japan was assisted by CANZ, with funding from Creative New Zealand.

The ACL (Asian Composers' League) was founded in 1973 with the purpose of promoting activities of composers in Asian countries and mutual exchange. It is an international organization that includes composers from many Asian countries as well as Australia, New Zealand, Azerbaijan and Israel. Since 1973, these countries have hosted 21 Festivals in turn. During each Festival, many concerts are held, where contemporary works and traditional music are performed. Besides the concerts, the ACL Young Composers Awards Competition and Country Reports are given, allowing a forum for communication amongst many composers, performers and musicologists from around the world.

The SOUNZ Contemporary Award is a project of both APRA and SOUNZ (the Centre for New Zealand Music). SOUNZ administers the award and convenes a jury of four to judge the entries.

The Centre for New Zealand Music (SOUNZ) is an organisation funded by Creative New Zealand, APRA and through PPNZ (Phonographic Performances New Zealand Ltd) to promote the music of New Zealand's composers.

For further information, contact:
Scilla Askew, Executive Director, SOUNZ scilla@sounz.org.nz

or

Margaret Ogilvie
Marketing and Promotion Coordinator
Centre for New Zealand Music (SOUNZ)
PROMOTING THE MUSIC OF NZ COMPOSERS
PO Box 10 042
Wellington
New Zealand
Email: marg@sounz.org.nz
www.sounz.org.nz
Ph: 64 4 801 8602
Fax: 64 4 801 8604