Globe-trotting composer to return home

Chris Gendall at the APR-hosted SOUNZ Contemporary Awards, 2008. Photo courtesy: TOPIC and APRA

Chris Gendall will return to Wellington as the Creative New Zealand/Jack C. Richards Composer in Residence at the New Zealand School of Music. As the residency recipient he will also be offered the use of the former home of Douglas Lilburn in Thorndon by the Lilburn Residence Trust.

Currently Chris is in the United States having been artist resident at the Banff Centre, New York after attending a composition residency at the Fondation Royaumont in France and the prestigious Britten-Pears Composition Course in Aldeburgh, UK – professional development opportunities as a composer made possible through the Edwin Carr Scholarship. Chris has been in the USA for the last few years completing a DMA in composition through Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

The young composer has already gathered many other awards and scholarships including the 2008 SOUNZ Contemporary Award for his octet Wax Lyrical. As a SOUNZ Contemporary Award winner, he was also one of the five composers who offered to write a work for the commissioners who were successful bidders in the 2009 SOUNZtender fundraising auction. As a result, his Suite for String Quartet, written for Christchurch's Christopher Marshall, will be premiered by the New Zealand String Quartet at the SOUNZtender concert on May 30th, 2010.

Chris lists varied and eclectic musical influences. "I have a fondness for composers of the 1960s and ‘70s," he says, "and, lately, have found myself drawn to the diverse emotional states from standup comedy, Richard Strauss tone poems, sports events and pop music."  He is very much looking forward to returning to Wellington where he completed his undergraduate and Masters studies in composition at Victoria University between 1999 and 2004.

"It will be wonderful to be back in my home town and an honour to follow in the footsteps of previous composers in residence, whom I greatly admire. I'm also looking forward to once again being immersed in Wellington's  music community. I’m really excited about connecting and reconnecting with performers and ensembles throughout the country." [Click here to read more about the residency and the previous recipients.]

Dr Jack C. Richards, who jointly sponsors the residency with Creative New Zealand, says that the 29 year old will be a wonderful addition to local composition. "He's young and vibrant, and the residency gives him the opportunity to fully pursue is creative activities. I wish him well and look forward to hearing his work." [Incidentally, Dr. Richards is another of the winning SOUNZtender comissioners. He has worked with John Psathas on a piano work called Songs for Simon which Donald Nicolson will premiere at the same concert on May 30th.]