Estella Wallace

Ngāi Tahu

Estella is a Wellington-based composer currently studying a Bachelor of Music majoring in Instrumental/Vocal Composition at the New Zealand of Music. her passion for composition started at fourteen, thanks to her high school music teachers. Since then, she has written for choirs, chamber groups and even a graduation march for her high school’s orchestra. She plays the clarinet in addition to her composing, having played with numerous groups.

Music has always been Estella’s true passion. It has such incredible power and can be used to express so many different things. Estella in particular enjoys using music to explore her whakapapa, Māori culture, Aotearoa’s landscapes, and relevant issues in our world today.

Estella has had many successes in compositition. In 2022, she won the NZCF-SOUNZ Te Reo Māori Choral Composition Competition with her piece Ka Mate Te Reo I Te Reaka Kotahi. A piece that lamented the loss of te reo if generations did not continue to revive it. This has since been recorded by Tudor Consort and sung by the Christchurch Youth Choir as well as featured on RNZ Concert as apart of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori 2022.

In 2024 Estella was selected as the 2024 AWE Emerging Composer. She received 5 months of mentoring from Eve de Castro-Robinson and her piece Lonely Peaks for string quartet is set to be premiered at the festival. As well as these achievements, Estella has participated in many CANZ Composers Workshops and helped run the 2024 Sounds of Te Kōki concerts.