Andrew Perkins

Andrew Perkins (born 31 December 1961 in Warkworth, Northland, New Zealand)[1] is a New Zealand composer, choral conductor and teacher. In 1985, he graduated from Auckland University with a Master's degree in Music, and in 2013 he graduated from Melbourne University with a PhD in Music (Composition). Andrew has had a number of works recorded and performed internationally.

Collected works and positions held

In 1986 he was elected the NZ Delegate of the NZIAA, representing New Zealand at the Eleventh General Assembly, Baghdad, Iraq. The congress was entitled 'Artists For Peace'. His "Requiem For Peace" for mezzo soprano, SATB choir, woodwind, brass and percussion was highlighted in International Youth Year with a performance at St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell, Auckland (1985).

Andrew Perkins was appointed Composer in Residence of the Auckland Philharmonia (APO), in 1992. During his tenure, Perkins produced Symphony Der Bote (performed by Carmel Carroll under the baton of William Boughton) and the Renaissance-style song cycle Ways of Light and Life, among others.[2] His sequence of cello orchestral movements entitled "The Flying Gardens" is frequently performed internationally by cellist Tom Pierard. One of the Flying Gardens, retitled Islamic Lament, played by Pierard, was recorded by Bach Musica New Zealand in 2010.[3] Perkins's "Fantasia For Eight Celli" was performed by the Ensemble Philharmonia of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra at Auckland's Aotea Centre on 20, 21 October 1993.

He worked as director of music at both the Senior College (ACG) in Auckland (1995–2004), New Zealand, and at Baradene College in Remuera, Auckland (2004–2008). Baradene commissioned Andrew to produce a "Jubilate Deo" for SSATB choir, full symphony orchestra and pipe organ as part of the Baradene College Centennial Concert in 2009.

For many years he was the musical director of the Auckland Catholic Music Schola, stationed at St John's Church in Parnell, Auckland. The Schola specialise in Medieval and Renaissance plainchant and liturgical music in the context of the Mass.[4]

Among his available works is Chants Montage, published and edited by Wellington organist Richard Apperley for Fagus Music (USA).

Recent works

Perkins is now resident in Melbourne, Australia, where he is a sessional lecturer and tutor at the VCA/Conservatorium of Music. His doctoral studies involved investigating the impact of nodal points in musicological and compositional history on his own work as a practising composer. His "Tango-Romanza", scored for full concert band, was performed by Watsonia Military Band in 2010. He graduated from Melbourne University with a PhD. in composition in December 2013.

In July 2012 his major work "Christchurch Vespers" was performed by Pita Paczian and Bach Musica New Zealand at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell, Auckland. Its musical language – a fusion of the ancient (Greek, Byzantine, Middle Eastern, Hebrew, Indian), the liturgical (Perkins sets seven texts from the Vespers for Pentecost liturgy) and the idiosyncratic (a duel between the harp and the vibraphone in The Announcement of the Eternal Gospel) is both academic and passionate. The work was warmly received with a standing ovation. In a 2014 interview he said of his doctoral studies, of which The Christchurch Vespers/Vespers for Pentecost are a part: "THE PhD explored the idea that composers are not exactly like a magpie collecting shiny objects. They do draw on past experiences but also build things out of what’s laying around, a bit like a bricoleur although it's not a totally accurate description of what composers do because they tend to be highly selective in what they choose"(Gupta, 2014) .

During November 2012, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra recorded his "Waltz-Fantasia". The NZSO recorded his "The Radish and the Shoe" for narrator and orchestra in 2014. It was recorded in three languages: English, French, and Japanese. He continues to work as an international commissioned composer and educationalist.

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ "NZ composer – Andrew Perkins". sounz.org.nz. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  2. ↑ Andrew, M. 1992. Different Styles: Two Composers-in-Residence, Canzona, 33, Wellington.
  3. ↑ http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/64471/rachmaninov-boccherini-perkins.html
  4. ↑ http://www.schola.org.nz/
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