Composer

Biography

Gleanda Keam was awarded a PhD in Music by the University of Auckland in 2006 for her analytical thesis “Exploring Notions of National Style: New Zealand Orchestral Music in the Late Twentieth Century”. More recently, she co-edited and contributed a chapter to the 2011 Pearson publication “Home, Land and Sea: Situating Music in Aotearoa New Zealand.”

Glenda has lived much of her life in her home town, Auckland, however she spent the period 1986-94 living in the United Kingdom, where she studied composition with Anthony Gilbert in Manchester, attended various summer workshops and worked as a music educator. Earlier achievements include an MMus(Hons) in Composition from the University Of Auckland (1986), where she studied composition with John Rimmer and John Elmsly and analysis with Fiona McAlpine.

Her compositions have been performed in New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom, and she is also an enthusiastic songwriter; recent songs have been collaborations with her husband, composer James Gardner. She also has a strong history of choral singing with the National Youth Choir of NZ, the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and the Britten Singers (formerly BBC Northern Singers), and enjoys performing as a piano improviser at Vitamin S in Auckland.

Glenda lectured at the School of Music at the University of Auckland from 1994-2006, teaching music theory, musicianship, composition and contemporary studies. She is now Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader of the music programmes at Unitec Institute of Technology, where she inaugurated a Diploma in Contemporary Music and a bridging Certificate. Her research writings focus on New Zealand music studies, with particular emphasis on analytical and evaluative work, issues of New Zealand cultural identity, and trans-Tasman comparative musicology.

Glenda is closely connected to the New Zealand composing community, having served six years as Secretary of CANZ (Composers Association of New Zealand), and since 2007 has been President of that Association. She has represented New Zealand at international festivals in Korea, Croatia, Sydney and Wellington. She devised, curated, and organized the (09)03 Contemporary Music Festival held in Auckland in 2003, and is currently working with Mark Menzies as co-curator of the New Zealand in LA Festival.