Del Sol Featured Composer-
Jack Body
Jack Body
was born in Te Aroha, New Zealand, in 1944. He studied at Auckland University, in Cologne and at the Institute of Sonology, Utrecht. During 1976-77 he was a guest lecturer at the Akademi Musik Indonesia, Yogyakarta. Since 1980 he has lectured at the School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington (now the NZ School of Music).
His music covers most genres, including solo and chamber music, orchestral music, music-theatre, music for dance and film as well as electro-acoustic music. A fascination with the music and cultures of Asia, particularly Indonesia, has been a strong influence on his musical thinking. He has also worked in experimental photography and computer-controlled sound-image installations. As an ethnomusicologist his published recordings including music from Indonesia and China, including a recent set of four CDs, 'South of the Clouds', field recordings of pioneer Chinese ethnomusicologist Zhang Xingrong.
He has been commissioned by the NZ String Quartet, the NZ Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, and many other groups, and has written three works for the Kronos Quartet. His opera "Alley", based on the life of Rewi Alley was premiered to wide acclaim at the 1998 NZ International Festival of the Arts. He has been a featured composer at the San Francisco Other Minds Festival (2003), the NZ International Festival (2004), and the Buenos Aires Encuentros International Festival (2004). Recent commissions include Songs of Nostalgia (Altena Ensemble, Amsterdam), Saetas (NZ String Quartet), Palaran (Altas Ensemble, Amsterdam), Tribute to the Blues, and Waiata Maori (both for the New Music Works, Santa Cruz), and Intimate History No.1 (IMEB, Bourges). A series of works exploiting the characteristics of large resonant spaces include his Invocation for multiple choirs, orchestra, gamelan and carillon (1998) commissioned by St Pauls Cathedral, and more recently a 'deconstruction' of Richard Davy's St Mathew Passion (early 16th century) when he co-ordinated five other composers in the creation of a 'musical commentary' to the choral original, played by a large wind band in the Great Hall of Massey University, Wellington.
Jack Body has been a passionate advocate for NZ music, beginning with the early Sonic Circus in Wellington in the 1960s, up to New Music New Zealand at the Ijsbreker in Amsterdam in 2001. In May 2005 he curated two concerts of NZ music in the Aboretum of NZ flora at the UCSC. He has been the editor of Waiteata Music Press since 1980, publishing scores of New Zealand music, and has produced over 20 CDs of music by New Zealand composers.
He has organised two Asia Pacific Festivals in Wellington (1984, 1992), large scale events featuring contemporary and traditional music and performing arts of the Asia Pacific region. A third such event scheduled for February 2007.
In 1999 he was awarded an OMNZ for his services to music, education and photography, and in 2004 he was honoured by the Arts Foundation of NZ as a laureate, an award that included a cash prize of $50,000.
More info on Jack Body:
http://www.Jackbody.com