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Composers Compare Notes
at the CANZ Nelson
Composers Workshop 2012
By Glenda Keam, President of the Composers
Association of New Zealand
Alex Taylor (violin) and Jeremy (piano) rehearsing
a student work. Photo: James Gardner
For five days in early July of each
year, the Composers Association of NZ
runs the Nelson Composers Workshop,
convened by two dedicated and
energetic members of CANZ. Nearly 30
student composers from tertiary level
study and sometimes upper secondary
school come to Nelson from around the
country, along with composer mentors,
performers and observers, all of whom
find this a valuable forum for discussing
technical, practical and aesthetic
considerations involved in the act and
process of composition.
This year’s workshop took place between
1 and 5 July, and was convened by Mary
Binney and Anthony Young, whose
many months of preparation brought
together a very interesting group of
composition-minded people. This year’s
mentors were Chris Adams, Virko Baley,
Rachel Clement, David Downes, Robbie
Ellis, John Elmsly, James Gardner, Chris
Gendall, Thomas Goss, Ross Harris,
Glenda Keam, Ryan Youens and Anthony
Young. Other musicians also attended
parts of the workshop, including Leonie
Holmes and Richard Nunns. There
were many fine professional performers
who brought the new works to life
very effectively, including members of
175 East and the NZSO.
Each year since 1982, when Jack Body
initiated the first such gathering in
Nelson, the workshop has enjoyed the
facilities offered by the Nelson School
of Music. Their beautiful old building
in central Nelson offers a large concert
hall space, a discussion room, catering
space, and the ever-necessary rehearsal
rooms. Most participants stay at the
Nelson YHA, which is a great place to
continue compositional conversations
over breakfast or dinner.
The format of the workshops is that each
student work is performed, and then the
composer (and their mentor) participates
in a discussion about what went well,
what might have been done differently,
how to use the instruments well, and
what was challenging about the work.
Hannah Bright demonstrating her piano score
(Blas Gonzalez at the piano). Photo: James Gardner
Everyone learns from everyone in this
environment, and it’s a fabulous way to
find out more about composers in other
parts of the country. These days, thanks
to modern technology, all workshop
performances are efficiently and expertly
recorded, so each student composer
has a CD of their new recording by the
end of their discussion.
Mornings are the time for rehearsals
(composers working with the performers
and their mentor), while the afternoons
and evenings feature workshop
performances and discussions,
focused on an impressively varied and
accomplished range of new works.
For those not involved in rehearsals
in the mornings, there is a series
of presentations from participating
composers talking about works in
progress or recent compositional
approaches.
This year’s format was slightly different
from most, in that one workshop
session was devoted to performing
15 microscores written by participants
specially for the lineup of bass clarinet
(or contrabass clarinet), violin and viola.
To hear such compositional ‘snapshots’
rubbing shoulders with each other, and
hear such fresh new music from so many
people in one room, was really an earopener.
The Workshop opened with an evening
concert of recent works from New
Zealand and beyond, and the final
evening was rounded off with a New
Zealand Music Quiz, with six teams
competing fiercely. I’m looking forward
to next year’s workshop already; the
convenors in 2013 will be Anthony Young
and Louise Webster, and I am keen
to hear how the various participants’
music develops through another twelve
months. •
Reuben Jelleyman discussing his work.
Photo: James Gardner
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