The Mozart Fellowship

Christopher Adams

Mozart Fellow 2010 and 2011

The Mozart Fellowship gives you the time and freedom to observe, to take in and reflect; something that often gets lost when you are busy going from project to project, or maintaining a number of different and often conflicting jobs at the same time.

I have also really enjoyed being in an “artistic hub” with the different arts fellows at the University of Otago, being able to meet and talk with dancers, authors and artists. I have been particularly lucky to have been able to meet last year’s fellows as well as the current fellows.

I’m currently looking at working on a collaborative project with Fiona Farrell later in the year and hope also to be involved in the project that Lyne Pringle is working towards as part of her residency.

May tends to be a busy month for music in New Zealand (NZ Music Month). I have a number of performances scheduled: the NZ Trio are performing Jekyll Rat in Titirangi (Auckland, 1st May), Oamaru (3rd May) and Dunedin (4th May); the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra are reading Anastasis as part of the NZSO-SOUNZ readings in Wellington on the 9th May; the Auckland Philharmonia are premiering Antonyms of Trust (11th May) as part of the the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival and I have a new string trio being performed in the lunchtime concert in Marama Hall on the 18th May.

I have also recently finished work on the commission for the Southern Sinfonia, Symphonic Dances will be premiered as part of their second matinee series concert on the 19th of June.

2010

Chris Adams is only three months into his Fellowship and has already completed a number of new works for different groups around New Zealand. Three premiere performances will take place in May with further concerts planned for later in the year.

Prior to coming to Dunedin to take up the Mozart Fellowship, Chris was the 2009 Auckland Philharmonia Composer in Residence. “It was an honour to have such a prestigious residency so early in my career, but there were very specific output requirements which meant that most of my writing last year was for the orchestra and players from the ensemble. I also had commitments to the school where I was part-time Head of Music which gave me limited time for creative exploration.”

“The Mozart Fellowship, by contrast, has allowed me a fantastic amount of artistic freedom. I’ve had the flexibility to accept projects as they arise for an extremely varied range of groups and I have also had the space to develop my compositional process and ideas. The financial stability of the Fellowship means that I have been really productive and that I can completely focus on composition while I’m here.”

Of the upcoming performances of Chris’ music, one of the pieces is a commission by the contemporary music ensemble Silencio for a programme of new works to be performed in Christchurch on the 25th May. Two further compositions will be premiered in Dunedin: one for the Otago Symphonic Band, a wind band of around 30 members, on the 15th May, and one for violin quartet on 19th May as part of the Department of Music’s Showcase series.

Chris is also doing some lecturing on composition to the second year students in the Department of Music and also taking first year tutorials. “The department is very vibrant and supportive and being involved in teaching obviously helps my own work. No matter what level you are at, a lot of the processes you go through as a composer are similar, so teaching helps you to be more aware of the range of possibilities available in composition.”

Chris is currently working on a major piece for actor and orchestra for the Auckland Philharmonia to be workshopped and recorded later in the year. The text, by the New Zealand writer, Sam Mahon, is about water conservation issues and environmental degradation in New Zealand. The Auckland Philharmonia will perform the work next year as part of the 2011 Auckland Writers and Readers Festival.

May 2010