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SOUNZ Contemporary Award
Te Tohu Auaha

The SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha, presented in collaboration with APRA AMCOS NZ, has been awarded since 1998, recognising New Zealand compositions that demonstrate outstanding levels of creativity and inspiration.

Composers who are members of APRA are annually invited to enter up to two works which have been premiered in the previous year. Pieces may have been premiered publicly, recorded for radio broadcast or by a recognised recording label for distribution, or performed by a professional orchestra in a professional development situation. SOUNZ may in its absolute discretion accept an entry outside the eligibility period because of special circumstances. For example when a composition is completed and professionally recorded but not made available for reasons beyond the composer’s control this may qualify as a special circumstance.

The works can be for solo, chamber, ensemble, choral, opera, orchestral, electro-acoustic or any combination of these.

SOUNZ Centre for NZ Music convenes a jury to select three finalists whose entry shows outstanding compositional excellence and inspiration.

The award, consisting of a trophy and cash prize (currently $3,000), is presented each year at the APRA Silver Scroll awards ceremony. The trophy for the SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha has been designed and made by Auckland sculptor Sarah Smuts Kennedy and depicts a bronze fern frond mounted on a shaped oak and ebony base.


Te Tohu Ao Hou a Toi te Arapūoru

Nō te tau 1998 i tīmata ai te tuku i Te Tohu Ao Hou a Toi te Arapūoru. He mea tuku ngātahi e Toi te Arapūoru me APRA AMCOS NZ hei whakanui i ngā titonga puoro o Aotearoa e eke ana ki te tihi o Toi, o Auaha.

Ka tonoa ngā mema o APRA kia tuku mai i tētahi titonga kotahi, e rua rānei, kua tukuna tuatahitia ki te ao i te tau o mua atu. Tērā pea i kawea tuatahitia i te aroaro o Tūmatanui mā, tērā rānei i āta hopukina hei pāho ki te reo irirangi, tērā rānei i hopukina e tētahi pakihi whakaputa puoro hei toha whānui, tērā kē rānei i kawea ake e tētahi tira puoro ngaio i tētahi horopaki whakapakari pūkenga. Tērā anō pea ka whakaae a Toi te Arapūoru (heoi anō, kei a ia rawa te tikanga) kia uru tētahi titonga o waho o te tau e tika ana, mēnā he tino take i tika ai kia pērā. Hei tauira, mēnā i oti, i hopukina ngaiotia anō hoki he titonga, engari kāore i tukuna ki te ao, ā, ko ngā take i kore ai, kei tua o te awe o te kaitito.

Ko ngā titonga puoro nei, hei hiki mā te tangata takitahi, mā te taka puoro, te kāhui puoro, te tira waiata, te rōpū puoro whakaari, te rāngai puoro, te kaipuoro orooro-hiko, ētahi huinga rānei o ēnei.

Ka huia e Toi te Arapūoru he pae whakawā hei kōwhiri i tētahi tokotoru ko rātou kei te whiringa toa, inā te kairangi o te titonga me te auaha o te whakaaro.

Ko te tohu nei, he tohutoa hei hāpai mā te ringa, he moni anō (i tēnei wā e $3,000). Whakawhiwhia ai i ia tau i te hui tuku tohu a APRA e kīia nei ko ngā Silver Scroll. He mea hoahoa, he mea tārai te Te Tohu Ao Hou a Toi te Arapūoru e tētahi kaitārai whakapakoko o Tāmakimakaurau, ko Sarah Smuts Kennedy te ingoa. He huruwhenua rauwhero, ko te tūāpapa he mea tārai ki te oke me te eponi.

Kei te pae tukutuku a APRA te roanga atu o ngā kōrero mō ngā Tohutoa Silver Scroll.


Winners and finalists of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha

2023 Winner: Victoria Kelly: Requiem
Finalists: Joshua Pearson: 'No ro hunu ake' for TTBB choir and Solo Soprano & Nathaniel Otley: Mycelium

2022 Winner: Reuben Jelleyman: Catalogue
Finalists: Neville Hallmore full of flames and voices & Phil Brownlee/Ariana TikaoMaanaki

2021 Winner: Plan 9 (David Donaldson, Janet Roddick, and Steve Roche): The Bewilderness
Finalists: Reuben Jelleyman: Klein Fountain & Neville Hall: so flamed in the air

2020 Winner: Michael NorrisMātauranga (Rerenga)
Finalists: Celeste Orama loose affiliation of alleluias & Alex Taylor / Simon Ingram: Assemblage

2019 Winner: Michael NorrisViolin Concerto 'Sama'
Finalists: Chris GendallViolin Concerto & Chris Watsonogee

2018 Winner: Michael NorrisSygyt
Finalists: Leonie HolmesDance of the Wintersmith & Rosie LangabeerOcculmente

2017 Winner: Salina FisherTōrino
Finalists:  Chris GendallIncident Tableaux Part One & Jeroen SpeakSerendipity Fields

2016 Winner: Salina FisherRainphase
Finalists:  Kenneth YoungPiano Trio & Chris Cree BrownViola Concerto

2015 Winner: Chris Watsonsing songs self
Finalists:  Reuben JelleymanExpanse & Ross HarrisPiano Quintet

2014 Winner: Michael NorrisInner Phases
Finalists:  Leonie HolmesAquae Sulis & Celeste Orammacropsia

2013 Winner: Karlo MargetićLightbox
Finalists:  Michael NorrisTIMEDANCE & Chris GendallTriple Concerto

2012 Winner: Alex Taylor[inner]
Finalists:  Kenneth YoungFour Questions, No Answers & Michael WilliamsThe Juniper Passion

2011 Winner: Lyell CresswellConcerto for Piano and Orchestra
Finalists: Chris GendallGravitas & Samuel HollowaySillage

2010 Winner: Chris Cree BrownInner Bellow
Finalists:  Chris GendallRudiments & Ross HarrisViolin Concerto No.1

2009 Winner: Ross HarrisSymphony No. 3
Finalists:  Michael NorrisVolti & Jack BodyMy Name is Mok Bhon

2008 Winner: Chris GendallWax Lyrical
Finalists:  Chris Cree BrownRemote Presence & Peter ScholesRequiem Concerto

2007 Winner: Eve de Castro-RobinsonThese arms to hold you
Finalists: Christopher BlakeAngel at Ahipara & Ross HarrisThe Sleep of Reason...

2006 Winner: Ross HarrisSymphony No. 2
Finalists:  Eve de Castro-RobinsonReleasing the Angel & Dylan LardelliTumbu

2005 Winner: Ross HarrisLabyrinth for Tuba and Orchestra
Finalists:  Kenneth YoungSymphony No.2 & Jeroen SpeakGu ta

2004 Winner: John PsathasThree Psalms
Finalists:  Michael NorrisRays of the Sun, Shards of the MoonJohn CousinsSay, & Ross HarrisA the Edge of Silence

2003 Winner: Gillian WhiteheadAlice
Finalists:  Ross HarrisChaconne for Solo ViolaCraig UttingCirrus, & Chris Cree BrownIcescape

2002 Winner: John PsathasView from Olympus
Finalists:  Chris Cree BrownMemories Apart & John RimmerEuropa

2001 Winner: Gillian Whiteheadthe improbable ordered dance
Finalists:  Anthony RitchiePiano TrioPhilip BrownleeSinew/Synapse, & Jordan ReyneThe Long Goodbye

2000 Winner: Ross HarrisTo the Memory of I.S. Totzka
Finalists:  Lyell CresswellOh Whirlwind Underground & Anthony RitchieSymphony No.2 - The Widening Gyre

1999 Winner: Gillian WhiteheadOutrageous Fortune
Finalists:  Helen BowaterBanshee & Brigid Ursual BisleyCome Back Safely

1998 Winner: Eve De Castro-RobinsonChaos of Delight III
Finalists: Anthony RitchieRevelations & Dorothy BuchananThe Woman at the Store