Ode to ‘everyday resilience’ scores award for Otago composer

Seeing their piece performed live at the “Olympics of contemporary music” has confirmed something for Otago alum Lucky Pollock – they’re on the right track.

Lucky graduated in 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Linguistics and a Bachelor of Music in Performance and Composition. They recently attended the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) Festival in Bucharest, Romania, after winning an ISCM award.

“One composer mentor described the ISCM Festival to me as being like the Olympics of contemporary music,” Lucky says.

As part of their award win, Lucky’s piece ‘resilience: pluto trine saturn’ was performed at the festival by a string quartet – one of 70 contemporary pieces performed across the eight-day annual event.

“It was amazing to hear such diverse contemporary music in such breadth from all around the world,” they say.

“It was also really validating and inspiring to have my piece played at such an event so early in my career. It's encouraged me to keep going and focusing on continuing to build and have music as the main thing that I do in my life.”

Lucky created ‘resilience: pluto trine saturn’ for a Composer’s Association of New Zealand (CANZ) workshop with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) in Wellington in 2024.

The easiest way to describe the intention of the piece is through metaphor, they say.

“The piece is a representation of simple everyday resilience, such as the will to get out of bed in the morning. This was the image I had at the time of writing it, or this is the image that emerged to me and how it felt as it was finished.

“Meditating on everyday resilience and perseverance was something I was working on at that time of my life – working through PTSD, anxiety and mild depression alongside some other health issues that came up at that time.”

CANZ workshops are a valuable opportunity to meet other composers and to have your pieces performed and workshopped by actual performers, Lucky says.

“As part of this, I received a recording and valuable feedback from the players of the NZSO to make my score more easily understood by the players.”

Lucky then edited the scores and sent them in when CANZ put out a call for submissions to the ISCM last year.

In January they were notified their piece had been selected to represent New Zealand at this year's ISCM festival in Bucharest.

“It was very surreal to see my piece performed by a large ensemble in front of an audience for the first time as well, since the NZSO performance was limited to attendees of the festival,” Lucky says.

“This was a younger student orchestra who were newer to contemporary music. So it was a new experience for all involved, which was fun.

“I'm just glad to have my music be witnessed by people and to hear their experiences of listening to the piece and how they were affected by it.”

Meeting like-minded people and sharing the joy of music and composition was a highlight from the experience, they say.

“Contemporary classical music is a bit niche so it's not often you're surrounded by so many people who share your interest.”

Lucky – who received a University of Otago Academic Excellence Entrance Scholarship and a Prestige Scholarship in Arts and Music – chose to study Linguistics and Music after finishing school.

“I feel they’re similar in the sense that they deal largely with patterns. Studying phonology and acoustics in Linguistics has also been helpful in my understanding of how the voice works in singing.

“I also found that analysing language – particularly discourse analysis and considering the different ways we communicate meaning – has been helpful in writing lyrics and also getting me to reflect more deeply on what it is that I’m communicating with my music.”

Lucky was also involved in several bands as a student, including RIOT GULL and Porpoise, both of which went on tour and recorded albums/EPs.

After graduating, Lucky moved to Wellington, where they released an album for their solo project beet-wix and went on a tour of Aotearoa.

“I topped the SRN (Student Radio Network) Charts and RadioScope NZ Alternative Charts with my first single for beet-wix. Since then, I've received some funding from Creative New Zealand (CNZ) to complete a music production mentorship. The first half of this I completed earlier this year with producer Bevan Smith.

Lucky has also been very involved with To The Front – an organisation that encourages young women and queer and gender diverse youth to get into playing music.

“I’ve also started an ambient improvisational project performing under my own name. I've been incorporating improvisation more into my compositions and collaborating with other performers, which has been liberating.”

Lucky credits a score of Otago lecturers for influencing their musical journey.

“In Linguistics, there’s Hunter Hatfield, Anne Feryok and Simon Overall. Hunter's paper Language Brain and Being Human [will hyperlink] was really helpful in highlighting the importance of music and stories in the way that we understand and express ourselves.

“In composition, Anthony Ritchie, Peter Adams and Maddy Parkins-Craig. Anthony and Peter both really encouraged my compositions and gave me feedback, which helped me to continue nurturing and growing confidence in my practice.

“And Maddy pushed me to edit my lyrics more, which was something I didn't want to do, but the practice has been invaluable and really helped me to develop as a writer.”

Now that the ISCM Festival has passed, Lucky is enjoying the chance to experience what Europe has to offer.

“The churches here are absolutely amazing. I love the artwork and I've enjoyed all of the random people I've been meeting on my journey. There are a few budding pianists and composers I've happened to bump into.

“I've particularly enjoyed seeing the differences in the native wildlife here – new birds, and animals such as squirrels, bears and snakes. And the different plants.”

Lucky is currently working on a farm in rural Transylvania and this month will meet up with composer friend Jess Robinson in Graz, Austria, to play a show alongside another New Zealand composer Reuben Jelleyman.

“From there I want to gradually make my way to the UK to see my ancestral lands, hopefully visiting the Shetland Isles in Scotland.”

– Kōrero by Internal Communications Adviser Laura Hewson