Biography

Lachlan McKenzie was born in Wellington in 1981.

At the University of Otago, Lachlan studied composition under Peter Adams and Anthony Ritchie. He completed his university training with a MusB (Hons) in 2002, and was awarded a Lilburn Trust Student Composition Award in that same year. Lachlan particularly enjoys writing for theatrical genres, such as plays, ballets and musicals. He has written music for modern productions of two Greek tragedies, namely Euripides’ Medea and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. Both were conceived for and performed within an intimate studio-theatre environment. In 2003, Lachlan wrote for an original ballet production of Alice in Wonderland, mounted by Dunedin-based company Dance and Theatre Arts. The orchestral suite can be found at SOUNZ.

Lachlan has not restricted himself to writing for theatrical genres. Theme and Variations for Orchestra was written to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Palmerston North Saturday Music Orchestra in 2001, meanwhile in 2003 Observation was given its first public performance by the Wellington Youth Orchestra, conducted by Marc Taddei. Part of his Flute Quintet was premiered by Stroma in 2002, and My Flood was the winning entry for the Southern Consort of Voices inaugural composition competition, also in 2002. All of these scores can be found at SOUNZ.

Lachlan is Treasurer of the Composers Association of New Zealand

Selected Works

• Works (8)
• Awards (1)