Michael Norris (composer)

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Michael Norris (born 1973) is a New Zealand composer, music theorist and Senior Lecturer in composition at Victoria University of Wellington.

Contents

Early life and education

Norris was born in 1973. [1] He attended Logan Park High School and the University of Otago. [2] He gained a BMus (Hons) from Victoria University and an MMus from the City, University of London in 1997. [3] [4]

Career

Norris teaches composition, sonic art and post-tonal music theory at Victoria University. [5] In addition to his compositions Norris is a software developer and music theorist and has authored several papers on harmonic theory. [5] In the mid-90s Norris belonged to a group called the 1995ers whose "compositional reference point seems to have been the 1950s and ’60s avant-garde, with all of the political baggage that comes with this movement." [6]

Norris, with other musicians and conductor Hamish McKeich, established the contemporary music ensemble Stroma in 2000. [7] He was the University of Otago’s Mozart Fellow in composition in 2002. [2]

In the 1990s Norris began to study taonga pūoro (traditional Māori instruments) with Richard Nunns. [8] Mātauranga (Rerenga) was commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to mark the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook's landfall in New Zealand. [9] The orchestra, taonga pūoro and electronic music are woven together to symbolise the mixing of Māori culture and traditional knowledge with western culture. [9] [10]

Norris's compositions have been played by New Zealand performers and internationally with his work Sgraffito premiered at the Donaueschingen Festival in Germany in 2010. [3] [5]

Awards

In 2003, Norris won the composition competition The Lilburn Prize, named in memory of composer Douglas Lilburn [11] [5] and the Composers Association of New Zealand Trust Fund award in 2011. [12]

Norris has won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award at the APRA New Zealand music awards four times: in 2014 for Inner Phases, in 2018 for Sygyt, in 2019 for the Violin Concerto Sama and in 2020 for Mātauranga (Rerenga). [2] [13] He donated his prize money in 2020 to Haumanu, a group dedicated to the revival of taonga pūoro and performing. [8]

Selected works

Compositions

Selected publications

References

  1. ↑ "Norris, Michael, 1973-". tiaki.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Lewis, John (31 October 2020). "Former Dunedinite's 'sound-world' awarded". Otago Daily Times . Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Michael Norris". Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  4. ↑ "Michael Norris". The Conversation. 13 February 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Resound: Michael Norris". RNZ . 15 November 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  6. ↑ Watson, Chris (2007). "Set theory : cliques in New Zealand composition". Canzona. 28 (49): 76–79.
  7. ↑ "Stroma". Symphony Quarterly. 25: 27. July–September 2000. ISSN   1173-0676.
  8. 1 2 "Michael Norris wins contemporary music award". scoop.co.nz. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  9. 1 2 "Michael NORRIS: Mātauranga (Rerenga) (première)". RNZ . 7 August 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  10. ↑ Betts, Richard (13 July 2019). "NZ Symphony Orchestra promises something old, something new". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  11. ↑ "The Lilburn Prize". douglaslilburn.org. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  12. ↑ "Awards – CANZ". Composers Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  13. ↑ "Composer Michael Norris wins third SOUNZ Contemporary Award in a row". Victoria University of Wellington. 9 November 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2025.

Further reading

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