SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, with APRA AMCOS NZ, is thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2022 SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha, celebrating excellence in contemporary composition:
Neville Hall for more full of flames and voices
Reuben Jelleyman for Catalogue
Philip Brownlee and Ariana Tikao for Manaaki
The finalists were selected by a judging panel of independent industry representatives, including an international representative Peter Veale (New Zealand/Germany):
“I was very honoured to be one of the judges for the SOUNZ Contemporary Award this year. I was very curious as to how radical and diverse the entries would be. I was delighted and motivated by the inspiration, openness and high quality of the pieces. It went above my expectations and was a pleasure to be involved in. The overall standard and diversity was impressive”, says Peter Veale.
The panel, which included New Zealanders Ashley Brown, Justine Cormack, Mark Menzies and Sonya Waters, commented on the very high quality of the submissions this year, demonstrated in the 54 works entered by 46 composers.
Neville Hall, a second-time finalist (2021) for the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, has been nominated for his work more full of flames and voices, a trio for clarinet, accordion and cello.
Neville Hall says, “more full of flames and voices was written for the excellent young Slovenian ensemble Trio Tempestoso. It was composed in 2021, immediately after I finished work on my orchestral composition so flamed in the air, which was a finalist in last year’s SOUNZ Contemporary Award, so it’s not surprising that the two works share certain characteristics, despite the difference in the scale of the instrumental resources. I was, of course, thrilled to be selected as a finalist for the award again this year. Most importantly, it means a lot more people will listen to the composition.”
Reuben Jelleyman (finalist for the 2015 and 2021 SOUNZ Contemporary Award) has been nominated for his orchestral work Catalogue.
Reuben Jelleyman says, “I’m very proud to be chosen as a finalist for 2022. To have the work that I’ve produced offshore celebrated again for the SOUNZ Contemporary selection is always warmly encouraging. We’ll see if I can get third-time lucky…
“Catalogue was written for the ensemble Multilatérale to complete my masters at the Paris Conservatory. The piece is quite a chaotic collision of my musical explorations during my studies, and yet, it’s hardly the conclusion to anything. It’s more of an explosive start: there are things in the piece that are a little out of control, and struggling to find their place. For me that’s quite exciting.”
The Wellington-based Philip Brownlee and Ariana Tikao are first-time finalists as composing collaborators for the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, and have been nominated for their work Manaaki, for taonga puoro and string quartet.
Ariana Tikao and Philip Brownlee say, “We’re delighted that Manaaki is a finalist for Te Tohu Auaha. It has been exciting to continue the musical journey with each other, and to work closely with the New Zealand String Quartet. It’s a work that’s really open to creative input from its performers – we’re grateful to Horomona Horo for his role in the process, and really looking forward to seeing how the work develops in future performances.”
The winner of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha will be announced at the 2022 APRA Silver Scroll Awards to be held in Auckland on Tuesday 18 October.
The SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha, celebrating its 25th year, recognises New Zealand compositions demonstrating outstanding levels of creativity and inspiration and has been presented in collaboration with APRA AMCOS NZ since 1998. Read more about the Award and its past winners and finalists, and explore their works here.