Newsletter #2 - Observations
Kia ora everyone!
I am sending out this newsletter to celebrate the release of my work for string quartet, Observations I & II.
I am releasing Observations I & II today on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and just about anywhere else you can find music. Please give it a listen, and if you like it add it to your library, or share it to a friend.
The work is a reflection on turmoil created in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and is dedicated to my friend Valeriya Golovina.
We recorded the piece Stella Maris chapel in Miramar by master recording engineer John Neill, and it was performed by members of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Filmmaker and videographer Luke Ross did a marvellous job on filming the performance, and has created an amazing video.
You will be able to watch and listen to both movements below!
Upcoming Interviews:
To promote the release I will be doing a few chats on local radio over the next week. You can hear me talk more about the piece at these times:
8:45am, Wednesday 3rd of May (today!), I will be talking on local Wellington station Radioactive about the release
4:00pm, Thursday 4th of May, I will be chatting about the release to Bryan Crump on RNZ Concert, this is one I am especially nervous and excited about
8:30am, Wednesday the 10th, I will be chatting with student radio station Radio Control
Where did the work come from?
In 2019, Valeriya and I first met, at the time she was working on her short documentary Mawhialeo Ote Alowha - Our Love. I soon jumped aboard to score the film. The film was a beautiful intimate story following a Wellington based family, who left their home Tokelau for New Zealand seeking a better life for their blind son. The story was told so respectfully and with such maturity, that I immediately knew that it was something special. The film went on to play in the 2020 Hawai‘i International Film Festival, as well as the 2021 Doc Edge Film Festival, as well as many others. Through the making of this film we soon became friends.
During the pandemic Valeriya left New Zealand and returned home to Ukraine to be with her family. When the war broke out, Valeriya asked me if I could write something about the situation. I struggled with this, unsure of what I could say, and what that would look like. After a long process this eventually became Observations I & II
It is called Observations, because that was my experience of the war in Ukraine. My experience of the events has been observing from afar— observing events through social media, the news, messages with Valeriya. I would feeling frustrated, angry and worried, but not being able to help, and at the same time having normal life weirdly continuing as normal--It felt bizarre seeing heart-wrenching updates from Valeriya squeezed between holiday pictures and videos of dogs.
Reflections:
I know it’s only release day. Observations is still moving out— and hasn’t had a chance to live out in the big world yet. But I still have some thoughts.
I started this piece over a year ago. It was something I kept coming back to throughout last year. It went through a number of different forms, and variations. I workshopped it with various players at Chamber Music NZ’s Composer Woodshed series, and again at the CANZ Nelson Composer’s Workshop.
Liam Furey and Sai Natarajan gave me excellent typesetting advice. While Claire Cowan, and Tom McLeod encouraged me to get it recorded with the great players I recorded it with. My parents were hugely supportive of the piece (Dad even sat in on the Nelson workshop play through), and my friend Tahlia lent an extra pair of ears during the recording.
It’s been an interesting project for me— it wasn’t commissioned, it’s not attached to any film, I’m not expecting it make it’s money back— it was solely a passion project, and I hope people will connect to it, and enjoy it. My absolute dream would be for an existing string quartet to pick it up, and play it in concert.
What’s coming up?
I’m very happy to say there is stuff cooking!
It seems like everything always happens at once in this line of work. I won’t say too much more, as I want to focus this newsletter on my string quartet. But you will be hearing from me quite soon about a new job I am starting— so keep an eye on your inboxes (and TV screens) over the next couple of weeks, and I’ll be in touch soon!
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