Gary Daverne

Last updated

Gary Daverne
Garydaverne2010benny.jpg
Daverne at the 2010 Benny Award
Born1939 (age 8485)
Auckland, New Zealand
Occupation(s)Musical arranger, composer, conductor, director and producer
Website garydaverne.gen.nz

Gary Michiel Daverne ONZM (born 1939) is a New Zealand musical arranger, composer, conductor, director and producer.

Contents

He was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1996. [1] He held the position of Music Director/Conductor of the Auckland Symphony Orchestra from its formation in 1975 until 2010 when, on retiring, he was appointed Music Director Emeritus. [2] Daverne has also composed music for symphony orchestras, brass and military bands, children's songs and musicals with more than 500 television and radio advertising jingles, film soundtracks and pop songs. [3] Daverne is New Zealand's most prolific composer and arranger of music for the accordion. [4] As a music producer Daverne has released over forty albums achieving one Platinum and two Gold records. [5]

Since his retirement from the Auckland Symphony directorship position, he has gone back to his pop and rock 'n' roll roots as a record producer, digitally re-mastering, mainly for internet re-release on his Viscount label, archive recordings that he produced in his earlier years, along with producing new recording projects. He is still actively involved as a guest conductor with orchestras and as a musical arranger and composer.

During the 2014/15 period, Gary was musical director for three highly successful children’s musicals at the Glen Eden Playhouse Theatre in Auckland. Two of these musicals: Robyn Hood – Outlaw Princess (words by John Reynolds) and Cats of Ponsonby (words and story by Ray Prowse), Gary had composed the music for some 40 years ago but had recently revised and updated. The third show was The Rockin’ Tale of Snow White.

Other recent compositions by Gary include: Auckland March, Silver Fern March, 2nd Rhapsody for Solo Accordion and Orchestra and Dardanelle, a major work for orchestra and choir commissioned in 2016 by Turkey for their 100-year Gallipoli centenary.

In June 2015 he released his first book, From the Podium, sharing tales from his life of forty years conducting orchestras and choirs around the world. See http://www.garydaverne.gen.nz for details.

Biography

Daverne was born in 1939 in Auckland, New Zealand and was educated at Auckland University and Auckland Teachers Training College. He started his musical career in brass bands as a euphonium player, later changing to clarinet, playing in symphony orchestras, jazz combos and top New Zealand rock bands during the 1960s. [6] He started playing piano seriously at age 21 and became a top line jazz and rock/pop pianist. He also doubled on alto and tenor saxophones.

He moved to London in the late 1960s and studied musical composition and conducting, achieving a Fellowship at Trinity College.

Upon his return to New Zealand Daverne worked for Television New Zealand as a highly regarded music director, arranger and conductor on many top television shows. He founded the Auckland Symphony Orchestra in 1975 and was resident conductor/music director until 2010 when he was appointed Music Director Emeritus. [1]

Founder and Musical Director Gary Daverne ONZM with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra Auck-symphony-orchestra-gary-daverne.jpg
Founder and Musical Director Gary Daverne ONZM with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra

He was appointed music director for the 1975 New Zealand Waitangi Day Celebrations, attended by Her Majesty the Queen of New Zealand and other members of the British Royal Family. Daverne is notable for being probably the only civilian in recent history to musically direct a Royal occasion, conducting the Royal New Zealand Navy Band, without a commission.

Daverne is a qualified Secondary School teacher in economics, accounting and music [7] and was Head of Department of commerce at Glendowie College. In 1978 he was selected by the New Zealand Education Department as "Composer in Schools", an appointment that he held for two years. During this time he composed many songs and musicals for children which have remained popular and are still regularly performed. Musicals include Cats of Ponsonby, Tales of Panapa, Young Mozart, Tiddalik The Frog, The Brothers Three and Robyn Hood: Outlaw Princess.

In 1997 he was the musical director for the Military Tattoo held in New Plymouth. This event had a total participating cast of over 1500 including the Army, Royal New Zealand Navy and Royal New Zealand Air Force and Artillery Bands, orchestra, 300-voice choir and 160 Pipes and Drums including the Band of The Black Watch Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Daverne has conducted many major orchestras around the world including London's Royal Philharmonic, the Shanghai Symphony, the Taiwan Symphony, Moravian Philharmonic-Czech Republic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Malaysia and the Turkish State Orchestras of Istanbul, Bursa and Adana. [8] In 2002 he became the first New Zealander to be invited to conduct in South Korea. [9]

In 2005 and 2008 he conducted concerts with the Moravian Philharmonic and Czech Republic Orchestras in a programme of his original music and film scores. [8] 2007 saw Daverne conducting the Auckland Symphony Orchestra on a tour of China, playing to large audiences in Beijing, Shanghai and Shi Jia Zhuang. [8] The Shanghai concert was televised during prime time to an estimated audience of 143 million.

Daverne is New Zealand's most prolific and successful composer and arranger of music for the accordion. [10] His arrangements and compositions for solo accordion and accordion orchestras are used extensively around the world.

Gary Daverne ONZM at the piano Garydavernepiano.jpg
Gary Daverne ONZM at the piano

In the 2009 Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championships Daverne conducted the world premiere of his commissioned composition Auckland March, performed by the World Accordion Orchestra III, 147 accordions representing 12 nationalities.

In June 2015 he released his first book, From the Podium, sharing tales from his life of forty years conducting orchestras and choirs around the world.

Carol Concert 2010 Auckland Town Hall. Auckland Symphony Orchestra, conductor Gary Daverne, with combined Pacific Island Church choirs Gary-daverne-carols.jpg
Carol Concert 2010 Auckland Town Hall. Auckland Symphony Orchestra, conductor Gary Daverne, with combined Pacific Island Church choirs

Orchestral compositions include :

Awards and honours

Viscount Productions

Viscount Productions was established by Daverne in 1961 as a publishing house and a parent company for Viscount Records. Viscount Productions publishes and controls all music composed and recorded by Gary Daverne.

Viscount Records began as a one-man label with Daverne being the sole owner, arranger and producer, working out of Zodiac Studios in association with Eldred Stebbing. [17]

The first 45 recording on the label was the Embers: "Rinky Dink" and "The Green Leaves of Summer". In the mid-1960s the Sierras had a hit with "The Crying Game", Cathy Howe had success with "Then He Kissed Me" and "He Doesn't Love Me", The Gendelles with "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" and "Popsicles and Icicles", and The Gremlins with "The Coming Generation".

The Viscount label is still operating and releasing New Zealand recordings and music, distributed by Ode Records and online through Amplifier.co.nz.

Discography

Daverne has more than forty albums to his credit. Titles are released on Viscount Records and distributed by Ode Records and Amplifier.co.nz.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Body</span> NZ composer, ethnomusicologist, photographer and teacher (1944–2015)

John Stanley Body was a New Zealand composer, ethnomusicologist, photographer, teacher, and arts producer. As a composer, his work comprised concert music, music theatre, electronic music, music for film and dance, and audio-visual gallery installations. A deep and long-standing interest in the music of non-Western cultures – particularly South-East Asian – influenced much of his composing work, particularly his technique of transcribing field recordings. As an organiser of musical events and projects, Body had a significant impact on the promotion of Asian music in New Zealand, as well as the promotion of New Zealand music within the country and abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RNZ Concert</span> New Zealand public radio network

RNZ Concert is a publicly funded non-commercial New Zealand FM fine music radio network. Radio New Zealand owns the network and operates it from its Wellington headquarters. The network's playlist of classical, jazz, contemporary, and world music includes recordings by local musicians and composers. Around 15 percent of its airtime features live concerts, orchestral performances, operas, interviews, features, and specialty music programs, many of them recorded locally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raffaele Marcellino</span> Australian composer (born 1964)

Raffaele Marcellino is an Australian composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Schimmel</span>

William Schimmel is an American musician and composer, who plays the accordion and is a promoter of the philosophy of "Musical Reality". He holds Bachelor of Music, Master of Science and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from the Juilliard School, along with a diploma from the Neupauer Conservatory of Music in performance/composition. He is a major popularizer of the accordion, performs music in many genres, has commissioned and premiered hundreds of new works, has composed over 4000 works in every medium, has written a number of books and articles and has made numerous recordings and videos. He has composed over 4000 works in every medium including opera which have been performed by leading performers, ensembles and conductors including the Late Leopold Stokowski. His music has been featured in a number of films, most notably Scent of a Woman starring Al Pacino, where he appears in the famous Tango Scene with The Tango Project which he is a founding member and television shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Serry Sr.</span> American concert accordionist, arranger, and composer

John Serry Sr. was an American concert accordionist, arranger, composer, organist, and educator. He performed on the CBS Radio and Television networks and contributed to Voice of America's cultural diplomacy initiatives during the Golden Age of Radio. He also concertized on the accordion as a member of several orchestras and jazz ensembles for nearly forty years between the 1930s and 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand Symphony Orchestra</span> National symphony orchestra of New Zealand

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the New Zealand Government, per the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Act 2004. It is currently based in the Michael Fowler Centre and has frequently performed in the adjacent Wellington Town Hall before it was closed in 2013. It also performs in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Sir William David Southgate is a New Zealand conductor and composer. He was the first New Zealand-based artist to be knighted.

Frank Anderson Tyrer was an English concert pianist, composer and first conductor of New Zealand's National Orchestra.

Anthony Galla-Rini was an American accordionist, arranger, composer, conductor, author, and teacher, and is considered by many to be the first American accordionist to promote the accordion as a legitimate concert instrument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Marocco</span> American accordionist, arranger and composer

Frank L. Marocco was an American piano-accordionist, arranger and composer. He was recognized as one of the most recorded accordionists in the world.

The accordion is in a wide variety of musical genres, mainly in traditional and popular music. In some regions, such as in Europe and North America, it has become mainly restricted to traditional, folk and ethnic music. Nonetheless, the button accordion (melodeon) and the piano accordion are widely taught and played in Ireland, and have remained a steady fixture within Irish traditional music, both in Ireland and abroad, particularly in the United States and Great Britain. Numerous virtuoso Irish accordion players have recorded many albums over the past century or so; the earliest Irish music records were made in the 1920s, in New York City, by fiddler and Sligo immigrant Michael Coleman, widely considered to have paved the way for other traditional musicians to record themselves. Accordions are also played within other Celtic styles, as well as in English traditional music, American traditional music, polka, Galician folk music, and Eastern European folk music.

Andrew Perkins is a New Zealand composer, choral conductor and teacher. He has had a number of works recorded and performed internationally.

Franko Božac is a classical accordion performer.

Boris Pigovat is an Israeli composer. Many of his works have been performed throughout the world. He studied at Gnessin Music Institute in Moscow. Between 1978 and 1990 he lived in Tajikistan, and immigrated to Israel in 1990. In 2002 he received his Ph.D. degree from Bar-Ilan UniversityArchived 2007-05-09 at the Wayback Machine (Israel).

Kenneth Young is a composer, conductor, radio presenter and lecturer in composition, conducting and orchestration at the New Zealand School of Music, Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington. As a composer, Young has had works commissioned by New Zealand and Australian orchestras and arts organisations including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra New Zealand International Arts Festival and Chamber Music New Zealand. He works as a freelance composer and is fully represented by SOUNZ: The Centre for New Zealand Music. In 1976, Young became the principal tuba for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and first conducted the orchestra in 1985 becoming Conductor in Residence in 1993. In 2001, he resigned from the orchestra to become a full-time conductor, composer and recording artist for orchestras in New Zealand and Australia, as well as engagements in Japan and the United Kingdom. He is well known for his interpretation of Romantic, 20th Century, New Zealand and Australian orchestral repertoire and in 2012 conducted both the winning album, Angel at Ahipara and finalist album, Releasing the Angel, for Best Classical Album at the New Zealand Music Awards. Young has been recorded by EMI, Atoll Records, Continuum, Trust Records, ABC Classics and Naxos and is a frequent presenter on RESOUND, Radio New Zealand Concert introducing and contextualising work from the RNZ archives. In 2004 was awarded the Lilburn Trust Citation in Recognition of Outstanding Services to New Zealand Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auckland Symphony Orchestra</span> Community-based symphony orchestra

The Auckland Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is a New Zealand community-based symphony orchestra formed in 1975 by founding musical director Gary Daverne.

Volodymyr Petrovych Runchak is a Ukrainian accordionist, conductor and composer who was born on June 12, 1960, in Lutsk where in 1979 he attended its music college. In 1984 he was a winner of the Republican Accordion Competition and the same year began studying conducting at the Kiev Conservatory where he also studied composing two years later. In 1988 he joined National Union of Composers of Ukraine and remained there till this day. He has conducted over 100 works which he performed in his native Ukraine, and then went to Kazakhstan and France. Currently he serves as a member of the New Music Association and is a founder of New Music Concert Series.

An accordion concerto is a solo concerto for solo accordion and symphony orchestra or chamber orchestra.

Charles Cozens is involved in the music industry in Canada as an arranger for solo artists; a composer writing in multiple genres for diverse organizations including chamber ensembles, musical theatre, and television; a conductor and producer of crossover orchestral shows; a performer on piano and accordion in jazz, classical, and pop styles; and as a recording artist and producer.

Ross Talbot Harris is a New Zealand composer, multi-instrumentalist, and music educator.

References

  1. 1 2 "Sounz Profile : Gary Daverne".
  2. "Auckland Symphony Orchestra History". Archived from the original on 10 November 2011.
  3. "SOUNZ NZ Composer Profile".
  4. "NZ Accordion Association".
  5. "APRA AMCOS Industry News : Gary Daverne Article".
  6. "Aucklander Interview".
  7. "The Aucklander Interview 2006".
  8. 1 2 3 "Gary Daverne Website Biography". Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  9. "CIA Coupe Mondiale Biography".
  10. "Sounz.org.nz".
  11. "Queen's Birthday honours list 1996". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 3 June 1996. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  12. "Stuff.co.nz Benny Award News Article".
  13. "Rotary Downunder Report".
  14. "Video : Gary Daverne Accepts the 2010 Benny Award".
  15. "Amplifier.co.nz Press Release". Archived from the original on 19 April 2012.
  16. "Variety Artists Club of NZ Benny Award Recipients". Archived from the original on 22 October 2012.
  17. "Zodiac Records History".

Media