Nathaniel Otley Wins The 2024 SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha With The Convergence Of Oceans For Orchestra

SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music is delighted to announce that composer Nathaniel Otley has won the 2024 SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha with the convergence of oceans for orchestra. This winning work came out of his 2023 Composer in Residence position with the NZSO National Youth Orchestra.

Nathaniel Otley says, “It's an absolute honour to have won the 2024 SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha. The award is such a wonderful celebration of the work done within our compositional community in Aotearoa and it's quite surreal to have won it this year. Getting the opportunity to write the convergence of oceans was an immense privilege and it was very special to get to work with the NZSO National Youth Orchestra in bringing the piece to life. I'm thrilled the work has had a resonance within our community and feel very fortunate to have it recognised in this way. There are too many people who have supported both the writing of this piece and my musical journey more broadly to name people individually but I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful and generous community of family, friends, mentors and supporters around me.”

Nathaniel Otley was presented with the Award at the 2024 APRA Silver Scroll Awards held at Wellington’s St James Theatre on Tuesday, 8 October.

SOUNZ Chief Executive Hannah Darroch says, “It's fantastic that the SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha has been running for over 25 years, giving us a special opportunity to collectively celebrate compositional excellence and inspiration. This year's pool of applicants was extremely high-quality - no easy task for the jury! I’m thrilled for Nathaniel Otley and his winning work the convergence of oceans - it's a colourful and effective work that fully explores the timbres and textures of the symphony orchestra, while bringing to life the drama of the ocean. I look forward to following the next stages in Nathaniel's career."

The SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha recognises New Zealand compositions that demonstrate outstanding levels of creativity and inspiration, and has been presented in collaboration with APRA AMCOS NZ since 1998.

This was Nathaniel Otley’s second nomination for the SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha, having also been a finalist for the award last year. The talented young composer explores ecological themes in his compositions, creating dynamic, evolving musical textures and timbres.

the convergence of oceans delves into the powerful theme of convergence, drawing inspiration from the natural phenomenon of ocean currents merging. Through intricate sonic layering, the composer explores an interplay of diverse and contrasting sounds, creating a richly textured orchestral work that reflects both musical and oceanic confluence.

Nathaniel Otley says, “It's such a rare opportunity as a composer to get to write a work for orchestra where you know exactly who will play it and where. Having this knowledge through the National Youth Orchestra Composer in Residence position really allowed me to seek to craft a work I thought would be meaningful for both the orchestra and the occasion. When doing this, the idea of convergence kept resurfacing. The National Youth Orchestra is, after all, an annual convergence of some of Aotearoa’s incredible young musical talent, and when considering how to write a work that suited this, the ocean, which surrounds us here in Aotearoa and is constantly converging and changing, emerged as an ideal extramusical connection for this ecologically minded exploration of sound.”

The winning work was selected through an anonymous process by a judging panel of independent industry representatives including international judge, Manuela Kerer (Italy), and New Zealanders Helen Bowater, Justin DeHart, Dugal McKinnon and Sarah Watkins. This year, 51 composers submitted a total of 61 works, showcasing the exceptional quality and diversity of composition in Aotearoa.

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