Dr Hannah Darroch
Chief Executive | Tumu Whakarae
In addition to being an active musician, Dr. Hannah Darroch brings 16 years of arts management experience in Aotearoa and Canada, specialising in marketing, communications, and project management. She started in her role last week, and we asked Hannah a few questions to get to know her:
Can you tell us a bit about yourself - where you’re from, and where else you’ve lived?
I grew up in the mighty Manawatū - Palmerston North - and moved to Wellington at 18 to study at the New Zealand School of Music. I’ve lived in Boulder, Colorado, and in Montreal, Canada – those locations might suggest I’m really drawn to the cold and snow, but they came about more due to study and music opportunities! But I did learn to love the intense winters.
I come to SOUNZ from four years living in Christchurch, and it’s lovely to be returning to the North Island and to be closer to family.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?
I enjoy getting out in nature and exercising – living in Christchurch was great for heading up the Port Hills, into Arthur’s Pass, or spending a day climbing up any number of mountains within a short drive of the city. I love catching up with friends over food and drinks, travelling, exploring new places, and other arty things – art galleries, museums, and any concerts/events I don’t have to perform in or plan are always a treat!
What is your earliest musical memory?
I was a very shy child, and my parents put me into ballet classes when I was three as a way of coaxing me out of my shell. It was through ballet that I was introduced to classical music – long story short I loved ballet and kept doing it for many years (thanks mum for the many elaborate costumes you had to sew as a result!).
Mum played piano at home, and it was my older brother bringing the recorder home from primary school that sparked my interest in learning that, and being led down the flute path from there.
What has been your career progression?
My first arts admin job was as Development Assistant for the NZSO, which I did while freelancing with the orchestras in Wellington on flute/piccolo. From there I headed over to the University of Colorado Boulder to do a Master of Music, and came back to Aotearoa for a job at RNZ Concert, where I worked for four years as Digital Content and Programme Producer.
I jumped to Chamber Music NZ to be their Marketing and Communications Executive, before heading over to Montreal in Canada to do a Doctor of Music at McGill University. I had a few part-time roles while I was there - Project Manager of the ACTOR Project (Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of Orchestration), which won $2.5 million of partnership funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and another funded project in collaboration with French jazz pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, which was all about free improvisation as collective chamber music, and was featured at the Jazz Education Network conference in New Orleans not long before Covid hit. I also worked in the Communications team at McGill, and was teaching undergraduate students at McGill during my time there too.
While in Montreal I crammed in an MBA in Arts Innovation through the Global Leaders Institute, which was a year of weekly online classes with a cohort of people from around the world, run by a group of universities including McGill, Harvard, Duke, and Stanford. That also involved an in-person portion that we did together in the south of Chile, working with local businesses on arts projects, and in a number of summer music programmes.
I won my job with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in 2020, and relocated back to New Zealand in the middle of the pandemic to be their Principal Flute. I received some Creative NZ funding that year to commission four NZ women composers to write new works for flute and piano, which was a memorable project to do on my return to NZ life when everyone was struggling with Covid-related cancellations and lost opportunities.
Around the CSO job I’ve spent the past four years teaching at the University of Canterbury’s School of Music, and juggling other contract work – some highlights that jump to mind were being Communications Manager of the NZ Choral Federation, doing comms and MC work for the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band, grant writing for other people (including Jian Liu's amazing recent NZ piano music project!), copy writing for CSO season brochures, programming music back at RNZ Concert, and helping to run the CANZ composer workshops in 2023. I sit on two boards, for the Ōtautahi Tiny Festival, and the Global Leaders Institute.
And now I find myself in this new role at SOUNZ – it’s so great to be reconnecting with a number of colleagues and friends from other arts organisations where I’ve worked over the last 16 years.
If you could visit anywhere in the world you’ve never been, where would you go?
A few years ago I had a New Year trip planned with five friends that got completely derailed because of winter storms, and I’d love to make that happen one day – to the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
Your top 3 favourite Podcasts?
Desert Island Discs – such a great way of getting to know someone through their music choices!
The Detail – an RNZ podcast ideal for catching up on a topical issue in a fast digestible way
No Such Thing as a Fish – great for learning new random facts and having a laugh
I’m a big podcast person so picking three favourites is near impossible – these ones are also on my app: BBC Woman’s Hour, The Guilty Feminist, This American Life, Between Two Beers, The Offstage Mic, Speaking Soundly, This Classical Life, and I enjoyed all of the Serial productions (e.g. The Trojan Horse Affair, S-Town, The Retrievals).
Where would you like to go on vacation if you had a month off and money was no object?
I fear I’d need more than a month for this, but I’d love to plan a vacation that involved visiting friends who live far away from New Zealand – distant friends is the issue that comes with having lived overseas! Perhaps with the “and money was no object” clause in this question I’d be better to book a big old farmhouse/castle in the south of France (near a winery, with a private chef and a house band) and pay for everyone to come and stay for a month…?
What’s the last book you read?
I’ve been dipping into These Precious Days by Ann Patchett, and Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris – both essay collections and perfect for when I don’t have enough solid time for reading!