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Ronald Dellow  

Fanfare and Finale

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 1999
fanfare and finale for massed choirs and narrator

Helen Fisher  

Nga Tapuwae o Kupe (The Footprints of Kupe)

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 1992
a bicultural work for school choir, instruments and dance

  • Instrumentation
    choir, percussion, Rarotongan drums, guitars (students), Taonga Puoro (koauau), piano, clarinet in B flat, alto saxophone, horn in F, flute, guitar (advanced performer)
  • Programme Note

    Nga Tapuwae o Kupe is a music drama directed by Rangimoana Taylor. It is based on the story of Kupe’s journey from Hawaiki to Aotearoa and his discovery of various landmarks around Whanganui-a-Tara / the Wellington region.

    While this work maintains a strong Maori theme, with karanga, haka and waiata, as well it weaves in other Pacific and European elements.

    For school choir, instrumentalists, dancers and kapa haka, this work was composed with the financial assistance of a composition grant from Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, was first performed by 140 students from South Wellington Intermediate School in July 1992 for Artsplash, the Wellington Young People’s Festival.

  • Availability

Helen Fisher  

Pounamu

Duration: 07' 00" Year: 1989, r. 1997
for solo flute, SSAATB choir

Aroha Yates-Smith   Gillian Whitehead  

Taiohi taiao

Duration: 11' 00" Year: 2004
for SSAATBB choir with koauau

  • Instrumentation
    upper bass voice are baritones; taonga puoro includes koauau koiwi kuri
  • Programme Note

    Na Aroha Yates-Smith koropupu ake ana nga wai o te matapuna he wai matao he wai reka ki te korokoro he wai tohi i te punua waiora waimarama wairua te puna o te tangata te putanga mai o nga reanga hei poipoi I nga taonga tuku iho pukenga wananga manaaki tangata tiaki whenua tamaiti taiohi taiao.

    Bubbling upwards rise the waters from the spring cool, refreshing water fluid delighting the taste buds blessing the young water – life-giving, clear – the spirit. The springs of humankind producing generations who will nurture their inheritance learning from the storehouse of knowledge hospitality/generosity to all guardianship of the land Child Youth Universe. The waiata acknowledges the vital role natural springs have in providing clean, delicious drinking water, which nourishes humankind and the wider environment. The water is also used in traditional and contemporary forms of blessing our young. The line “waiora waimarama wairua” refers to the life-giving force of the water, its clarity and purity, and the spiritual essence which pervades it and every life force. The second verse focuses on the importance of generation after generation preserving all that is important: “Te puna o te tangata” refers to the fountain of humankind, that is, the womb which produces the future progeny of our people. From woman is born humankind: generations of people who continue to nurture and maintain those treasures passed down through eons of time: knowledge and wisdom, the importance of caring for others and looking after the environment. The final line, “tamaiti taiohi taiao”, creates a link between the (tiny) infant, youth and the wider environment, and ultimately the Universe.

  • Availability

Helen Fisher  

Takiri Mai Te Awatea

Duration: 30' 00" Year: 1990
for SATB choir and kapa haka group

  • Instrumentation
    Taonga puoro: optional koauau
  • Programme Note

    This work is for SATB choir, for kapa haka performing karanga, waiata, poi, patere and haka, also for contemporary dance and taonga puoro. It is in three sections: Te Ahiahi(Evening), Te Po (Night), Te Atatu (Dawn), and is a parable for the bicultural journey of Aotearoa New Zealand. In 1986 I wrote the lyrics while studying te Reo Maori at the Kuratini with Teariki Mei and in 1990, I completed the music while doing Composition Honours at Victoria University. In the same year ‘Takiri Mai Te Awatea’ was workshopped at Ngake Poneke Young Maori Club, but it is yet to receive a full performance.

  • Availability

Helen Fisher  

Taku Wana - The Enduring Spirit

Duration: 1h 02' 00" Year: 1997
for SATB choir, kapa haka, Maori and Irish instruments, 3 soloists and orchestra

David Hamilton  

The True History of Resurrection Jack

 Year: 2006
for TBB choir and piano

  • Programme Note

    This short piece sets a text which appears to relate to South Africa in time of apartheid. There are references to the ‘veldt’ and a clear distinction between the life expectation of whites and blacks. The story is a simple one, a small black baby is found by passing white people, taken home and grows up amongst his adoptive people. The moral of the story is that ‘…things go deeper than white or black’.

    The True History of Resurrection Jack was written for Claire Caldwell and the Dilworth Foundation Singers of Dilworth School in Auckland.

  • Availability