Anthony Young

Anthony Young was born and raised in east Auckland. His musical interests and pursuits have always been eclectic, ranging from commissions from established music ensembles, to conducting musicals, and participating in Santa Parades with a brass band. Eclecticism and the juxtaposition of different cultures and styles is a hallmark of his compositional output.

Anthony studied music at the University of Auckland as an undergraduate and postgraduate majoring in composition with John Elmsly and Eve de Castro-Robinson. He also studied conducting with Uwe Grodd and Karen Grylls and musical analysis with Fiona McAlpine. More recently he returned to the institution to complete a Doctorate of Music in composition, supervised by Eve de Castro-Robinson, Leonie Holmes and Gregory Camp, graduating in 2024.

In 2003 he was a finalist in the NZSO’s Douglas Lilburn Prize with his work Mamaku and after graduating with a Masters degree in 2004, he was Composer-in-Residence with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. In subsequent years he has worked with a wide variety of organisations and ensembles, from professional orchestras and opera companies to high school chamber groups and community bands. As well as engagements with the APO, Anthony has had works performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Tapestry New Opera Works (Toronto), OperaUpClose (London), the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, the Jade String Quartet, the Nelson Symphony Orchestra, the Karlheinz Company, Gate7, Coro Voci del Mondo (Italy) and other performances in the USA and UK.

Anthony has had a long standing passion for opera. Anthony’s exploration of operatic forms began during his Masters degree, which included a one-act opera, Through A Window featuring tenor Jack Bourke. In 2006, Anthony travelled to Toronto, Canada to take part in LibLab, a composer-librettist laboratory run by Tapestry Opera. The workshop resulted in several miniature one-scene works performed in Tapestry’s 2006 Opera Briefs production, including The Singing Lesson co-written with writer Lisa Codlington. Another work from the workshop was the one-scene sock-puppet opera, The Perfect Match, co-written with playwright Krista Dalby, which was made into a short film in association with BravoFACT that was screened at festivals in Canada and the USA.

The 2006 LibLab workshop has led to an enduring creative partnership with Canadian playwright, Leanna Brodie. In 2009, the APO premiered The Angle of Reflection, a monodrama for soprano and orchestra co-written with Brodie. The next collaboration was the one-act opera, Ulla’s Odyssey. In its first version, it won the open category of the inaugural Opera Composition Competition at Auckland’s Opera Factory’s in 2012. The longer, final version won the Flourish competition run by OperaUpClose in London, UK in 2014. It was performed in London in 2015, and toured across southern England in 2016.

In other dramatic fields, Anthony has written incidental music for productions by Peach Theatre Company, including The Glass Menagerie (2006), Equus (2007) and Death of a Salesman (2012), and a contemporary dance score Eye Phone (2013) with Japanese choreographer, Ichiro Harada.

Many of Anthony’s works reflect his interest in Minimalism, and his music has been described as ‘Post-Minimalist’ in style. An early example of his work in this style is the orchestral piece, The Farewell, completed as part of the residency with the APO. In it, repetitive patterns coalesce into a range of instrumental colours in an exploration of grief. More recent works that explore this genre include Dissections of a Theme, commissioned by the Jade String Quartet. In the work, the theme from Paganini’s 24th Caprice is fragmented and reconstituted in a range of evolving textures.

In recent years, Anthony has gained a reputation for innovative works for community ensembles. This began in 2011 when, with the assistance of the SOUNZ Community Commission, he was commissioned by Whangarei Youth Music and the Whangarei RSA to compose Remembrance in 2011, a large scale outdoor work for choir and concert band. Further commissions include Saddleback (2014) written for a tripartite ensemble of WYM community orchestra, traditional Irish fiddle players, and the children of the Sistema Whangarei – Toi Akorangi programme; and for the national concert band festival in Whangarei, Sacred Breath – Turbulent Ocean (2017) which included concert band, children on percussion and local carvers playing their own pukaea. In 2015, his Octet commissioned by Diocesan School for Girls won the prize for performance of a New Zealand work at the national chamber music competiton.

From 2005 – 2014, he was a member of The Committee, a group of composers from Auckland producing innovative concerts of new music from New Zealand. Anthony is also a conductor, conducting performances of new works for The Committee concerts, and he was the Musical Director for Sweeney Todd (2010) and The Wizard of Oz (2011) with Peach Theatre Co. From 2005 – 2007, he sang in the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus (Auckland) including productions of La Traviata, Faust, Turandot and The Death of Klinghoffer.

As an educator, Anthony teaches composition at Auckland high schools as a Specialist Music Teacher (formerly Itinerant Teacher of Music). He has taught orchestration and composition at the University of Auckland School of Music.