Biography

Rosie Langabeer is a composer, pianist, improviser, bandleader and musical director. No stranger to genre-defying, boundary-bewitching musical projects, her major on-going focus is the amalgamation of composed and improvised music. Currently based in Wellington, New Zealand, Langabeer works primarily with acoustic instruments in live performance. She draws her inspiration from books, films, conversations, surroundings, other people’s music and a desire to participate in the world in a peaceful yet thought provoking fashion.

Born in Tauranga 1979 and raised in Auckland by music teacher parents Jim Langabeer, a jazz musician, and Charlotte van Asch, a classical musician, Langabeer’s musical education started early. Her first official lessons were piano aged eight, and in high school she studied saxophone, trombone, drums, bass and pretty much anything she could get her hands on. Her teenage years were filled with musical experiences playing in concert bands, big bands, choirs, rock bands and show bands, absorbing a vast range of symphonic possibilities that later provided a platform for her study of composition. In 2000 Langabeer moved to Wellington to study jazz at the Conservatorium of Music, Massey University, graduating in 2002 at the top of her year with a Bmus in Jazz Compostition.

In 2003 Langabeer created Zirkus, a contemporary jazz orchestra inspired by the diversity of talented, creative musicians in Wellington. The style of the group is seriously playful and theatrical; Langabeer composes specifically for the musicians in Zirkus allowing them to use the orchestra as a vehicle for their individual expression. Zirkus has recorded two albums Zirkus Goes Bizurkus and Sirius Music, toured the South Island, performed at numerous festivals and won the “Best Music” award in the 2006 Wellington Fringe Festival.

Langabeer enjoys multi-disciplinary collaborations and composes regularly for theatre, film, dance and circus. She has performed/collaborated with Jeff Henderson, Chris O’Connor, Hannah Griffin, Manon Liu Winter, Tom Callwood, Patrick Bleakley, Isaac Smith, Joe Callwood, Rick Cranson, Jim Langabeer, Daniel Beben, Amanda Maclean, Nick van Dijk, directors Deb Pope, Alyx Duncan, Dan Rothen and Darcy Gladwin, and worked with Pig Iron Theatre Company, San Diego; Awkward Productions, Wellington; Ake Ake Theatre Company, France and New Zealand, Hypnotical Hoodang, Auckland and Wellington, and the Wellington Most Famous Orchestra of Miraculous Delights.

As a lover of all genres and disciplines, Langabeer’s influences are vast and include Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Stravinsky, Laurie Anderson, Thelonious Monk, Astor Piazzolla, Fanfare Cioca˘rlia, Captain Beefheart, The Muppet Show, John Zorn, Ornette Coleman and Moondog. It is her belief that music, especially freely improvised, is a potent model for a new society, and a healing force on this planet.

• Works (9)
• Awards (1)
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