Choral Composition Award 2009

SOUNZ/NZCF Choral Composition Award 2009

Congratulations to the winner of the NZCF/SOUNZ composition award, Grace Park of Westlake Girls High School.  This year the adjudicator was David Hamilton, with the final results moderated by Richard Madden.  Grace will receive a cash prize of $250, supported by SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, and a copy of the winning score will be held by SOUNZ as a perusal copy.  The NZCF Auckland Choral Composition Trophy will be held by Westlake Girls High School for a year.

One of the choirs at THE BIG SING National Finale, to be held from 27 to29 August, will be approached to perform this composition at the gala concert.  Grace will also be invited to attend the Finale as a guest of the NZCF to participate in the final rehearsals of the piece, and to be presented with the award.  Accommodation and airfares will be provided by the NZCF.

Well done to all students who entered the competition this year, especially those named below who were commended by the adjudicator.

 

Grant Hutchinson

Chief Executive

New Zealand Choral Federation

www.nzcf.org.nz

 

 Comments from adjudicator David Hamilton

This year’s competition saw eleven entries from around the country. Significantly, most of the entries, and all the placed works, were from girls.  Texts were drawn from a wide variety of sources – both sacred and secular.  It was also pleasing that several works had recordings of performances sent in.

All eleven entries had considerable merit and understood writing for the voice, and in several cases another ‘working over’ of the material would result in a very successful choral composition.  Each composer demonstrated an ability to effectively set a text, and to handle the choral idiom.  My final choice was quite hard, as several works stood out for different reasons, and the top two works were both fine pieces in very different styles. 

The winning work, Grace Park’s “Benedicat tibi Dominus”, is marked by an exciting rhythmic setting in Latin of a familiar biblical text (“The Lord bless you and keep you…”). The composer has a fine ear for interesting harmonies, and the SATB texture is varied and well supported by its piano accompaniment.  Grace is a student at Westlake Girls High School where she is very involved in music activities.  She is no stranger to competition success, having taken first place in the 2008 student composition competition organised by Auckland’s V8 Vocal Ensemble.

I gave a second place to Bryony Gibson-Cornish for her evocative and atmospheric piece “South Brighton Love Song”.  I was keen to acknowledge that this work stood out from the other commended pieces for its sensitive and imaginative writing.

The full list of results is:

First place

Grace Park (Westlake Girls High School): “Benedicat tibi Dominus”

Second place

Bryony Gibson-Cornish (Rangi Ruru Girls School): “South Brighton Love Song”

Highly commended

Annalise Higgins (Corran School): “A Little Christmas Magic”

Gemma Lee (Westlake Girls High School): “Te Deum”

Commended

Tiffany Wood (Corran School): “Amazing”

Entries were also received from:   Brooke Abbott (Rangi Ruru Girls School),            Reuben Chin (Cashmere High School) Jemma Hartley (Queen Margaret College), Penelope Lake (Queen Margaret College), Rebecca Lee (Queen Margaret College),    Jesse Sheehan (Wellington College).