SOUNZ-NZCF composition prize winners
26 Jun 2023
We're delighted to announce the winners and placegetters in the 2023 SOUNZ-NZCF Choral Composition Competitions and are hugely grateful to this year's adjudicator, Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead.
We had a record number of total entries this year and Dame Gillian wrote to say: "The standard of entries was in my opinion very high. Everyone showed merit and an understanding of how to write for voice. The variety of subject matter and style was wonderfully wide-ranging. What is impressive in the prize-winning pieces is the overall sense of planning, whether deliberate or instinctive......" Of the prize-winning piece by Matilda Faamausili, Dame Gillian wrote: "This piece, for SATB choir, piano and ocean drum, sets the first stanza of the nineteenth century poet Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach, which describes a calm seascape looking out across the English Channel. The musical setting is evocative of the sea, the movement of waves, and reflects the mood of the poem very well."
And regarding the Te Reo Māori composition award, Dame Gillian wrote: "It’s very good to see new pieces in te reo Māori appearing in this competition. It’s a different skill, and a challenge, setting words in different languages. I was impressed by the work of the two place-getters. The first prize goes to Bella Allan-Moetaua for her Ko tangi o rū poūa which sets an old Moriori text honouring stone. This is written for SATB and flute. The choral writing flows very well, with plenty of variety. Ka mau te wehi."
Each of the winners will be presented with a trophy at The Big Sing Finale in the Auckland Town Hall on Sunday 27 August. We are grateful to SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music for gifting the SOUNZ-NZCF Te Reo Māori Composition trophy, a beautiful pūtōrino Te Pūoho Ki Te Rangi carved by taonga puoro player/composer and maker Tāmihana Kātene.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE SOUNZ-NZCF CHORAL COMPOSITION COMPETITIONS
NZCF-SOUNZ Choral Composition Competition 2023 Results:
1st Prize - Matilda Faamausili, Westlake Girls' High School, for "Dover Beach"
2nd= Prize - Declan Squire, Westlake Boys' High School, for "The Fisherman"
2nd= Prize - Ameera Woods, Rangi Ruru Girls' School, for "Videre Frem"
3rd= Prize - Louisa Boyer, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, for "Lamentum"
3rd= Prize - Sea-am Thompson, St Andrew's College, for "In the beginning"
SOUNZ-NZCF Te Reo Māori Choral Composition Award 2023 Results:
1st Prize - Bella Allan-Moetaua, Westlake Girls' High School, for "Ko tangi o rū poūa"
2nd Prize - Joshua Brown, Auckland Grammar School, for "He Waiata Whaiwhakaaro"
READ MORE ABOUT MATILDA AND BELLA IN THIS WESTLAKE GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Bella Allan-Moetaua (L) and Matilda Faamausili (R)