Biography

Ewan Clark was born in Dunedin in 1981. He played trombone from age 9 but composition became his focus towards the end of his time at secondary school, when he wrote ‘Hymn of the Philip Laing’ (1998) for choir and ‘Landfall’ (1997) for orchestra with uilleann pipes. ‘Landfall’ was premiered by Dunedin Sinfonia at its “Last Night of the Proms” in 1999.

As a student at the University of Otago (1999-2000) Ewan studied composition under Peter Adams and became influenced by composers of the “new simplicity” such as Arvo Part. In November 2000, ‘Reverie’ (2000) served as an elegy for Jack Speirs at his memorial concert, and ‘Gethsemane’ (2000) featured in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s 2000 Composers’ Workshop. ‘Gethsemane’ has since been performed by the Wellington Youth Orchestra and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. As a student at Victoria University (2001-2003) Ewan studied composition under Jack Body, Ross Harris and John Psathas, writing more harmonically complex works such as ‘Soliloquy’ (2001) for solo cello and ‘Starflakes’ and ‘Snowfish’ (2001) for piano. In 2003-2004 he co-founded and conducted the contemporary music ensemble GateSeven and focused more on conducting than composition.

Since becoming a music teacher at Auckland Grammar School in 2006, Ewan has written ‘Never No More’ (2007) for choir and two pianos, several piano pieces for children such as ‘Plinky Plonky’ (2007) and a handful of congregational hymns. While Ewan’s Christian faith is most overtly expressed in ‘Gethsemane’, it is his intention to follow Bach’s example in writing all his music Soli Deo Gloria.

Qualifications: BMus, Grad. Dip. Arts, Dip.Tchg. (Victoria University of Wellington)

• Performances (2)
• Works (5)