In this series, we present our new composers. We are proud to introduce George Smith.
Kia ora George, please tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.
Hey, I am George. I am a composer and orchestrator based in Wellington and Queenstown.
I have written music for a variety of different mediums. This includes concert/chamber music, film music, and electronic music. I have also worked for composers and orchestrators on their projects across film, television and the concert hall, including for legendary Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi, composer and orchestrator Chad Cannon, composer and orchestrator Phillip Klein (including on The Mandalorian Season 3), and local composer and music editor Stephen Gallagher. Working on those projects with them is a real privilege, and I have learned so much from those experiences.
I have a sort of weird start to music. I didn't get any formal music lessons until I was 12. But before that, I (especially as a young kid) would always imagine my music in my mind or hum it out loud. When playing with Lego, I would always hum a soundtrack to what they were doing, hahaha. So when people ask me when I started music, there are really two answers to that question.
I was a drummer for the school pipe band when I was in school, but I quickly moved on to orchestral percussion. I love the variety that percussion offers. I especially loved playing the timpani and vibraphone. I don't really perform much anymore, though, as I have focused a lot more on composition.
I didn't start notating my musical ideas/compositions until I was 15. And when I was 17, I got an email about doing a young musicians programme at NZSM. I decided to go for it and wrote a short piece for the New Zealand String Quartet to workshop, and was mentored by Michael Norris and Ewan Clarke. It was a very valuable experience, but if I am honest, I hated the thing I wrote, hahaha. I didn't even keep the recording. It helped me grow as a composer and taught me to be okay with not liking how some ideas turn out.
The following year I decided to study at NZSM, and did my Bachelors there in composition, and then a Masters of Fine Arts. It was an amazing experience, especially learning from John Psathas, Kenneth Young, Michael Norris, David Long, and Thomas Voyce. They each taught me different things that were very important to my growth as a composer, and in ways I never expected. I also interned with Stephen Gallagher during my Masters of Fine Arts, which was a really amazing/insightful experience into the film industry. I got to do a variety of things with him, including do music editing on his and Riki Gooch's score for the documentary 'Tupaia's Endeavour', as well as co-compose a score for the short film 'Vaka'. He is also a very lovely person which contributed to the experience.
The past few years I have moved back into the concert space more. Recently, I have been more interested in creating semi-ambient music, whether it's for instrumental music, electronic music, or a hybrid of both. I wouldn't say is fully ambient, but rather I like taking the slow shifting elements, and slow moving or free rhythmic elements from it and incorporating it into my music. One of my favourite composers is Ryuichi Sakamoto, and he was a master at that sort of instrumental/electronic ambient style. I used to really like writing more bombastic type music, especially inspired from the film music I love, but recently I have mellowed out a lot (both as a composer and a person hahaha). And so I love making music that is a lot more serene and peaceful.
Please choose 2-3 of your works and tell us more about them.
Recently, my piece Conversations With Death was performed and recorded by the NZSO for the RNZ SOUNZ Composer Sessions. That was such an awesome experience. Especially the incredible output of all the other composers! I was blown away by the variety of work and the creativity that was displayed.
Conversations With Death is a very personal work for me as it is about my own struggles with mental health. I find that it is really hard to separate my music from what I am feeling and my own life experiences. My lived experiences really do inform what I compose and how I compose. And so I really wanted to create something that was personal and authentic to me rather than impersonal or irreflective.
This piece was written in a semi ambient style, focusing on slow harmonic shifts, and delicate orchestration. I used a lot of what I learned from proofreading film and television scores. It was really interesting and surprising to see how some of the top Hollywood orchestrators would split the strings and balance the orchestra. Despite being a percussionist, I am quite sparing with the amount of untuned percussion I use generally. I use a lot more tuned percussion, like vibraphone, marimba and crotales. I also loved incorporating alto flutes in my score and hearing them live. They are so lovely, and I was so happy with how they came out during the performances. I was so scared they were going to be buried. If I could, I would have four alto flutes playing in unison like John Barry would, hahaha, but that was sadly too unrealistic.
What are you working on at the moment? (If you can’t talk about that yet: what have you completed recently and when will people be able to hear it?
As of writing this, I am not really working on much at the moment. I am just twiddling away at a few electronic and instrumental things. But who knows if they will eventuate into anything or if I will even finish them.
I have a few ideas for projects next year, so maybe keep an eye/ear out for those :)
Where can people connect with you?
@georgesmithmusic on Instagram.
Would you like to tell us anything else?
My cat (the one in the photo with me) is called Scooter, hahaha. Sadly, he is getting older now, but he has mellowed out a lot, sort of like me and my music, hahaha.