The title “Two Plus Three” refers to the instrumentation of the piece – two marimbas plus three percussionists. Commissioned by Andy Harnsberger, a long-time colleague of Gareth, the piece is a concerto for two marimbas with the multi-percussion backing of the trio.
The Saxcess Saxophone 4tet celebrated 30 years of musical and collaborative success in 2023 with an event that featured a world premiere of Gareth Farr’s ‘Vessel of Song’, a Klezmer-inspired masterpiece. There’s a fantastic interview with Debbie Rawson on RNZ.
As this fabulous Five Lines article recounts: Composer Gareth Farr calls the 10-piece ensemble he’s used for the dance-opera (m)Orpheus his “Frank Zappa band”. To a string quartet – “to support the singers” – he’s added trumpet, trombone (doubling euphonium), guitar, clarinet (doubling saxophone) and two percussionists playing on one marimba. Most of these instruments […]
Gareth Farr’s solo percussion work Macet (Balinese for traffic jam) combines drums, Balinese gamelan and electronics. As Chris Archer noted in his review of the concert “Noteworthy: Celebrating 150 Years of University of Canterbury”: Certainly one of the highlights of the concert is Associate Professor Justin DeHart’s premiere performance of a newly commissioned gamelan-inspired solo percussion […]
Four Postcards from the Lakes was commissioned for the At World’s Edge Festival’s 2022 edition, where Gareth served as composer in residence. The work invites listeners to match the music’s four movements to southern lakes from their personal experience of them. The jaw-dropping scenery afforded by the windows of Rippon Hall made it the perfect […]
In local legend, Ngake and Whātaitai were the two taniwha that created Wellington harbour, and my piece for viola and piano is my musical image of their story. When they were young, they frolicked in a huge lake, but as they grew older and too big for the lake, a harbour was formed when they […]
Where Will They Bury My Bones was filmed in London at the Fishmonger’s Hall and live-streamed online in March 2022 to a worldwide audience. It was written by, and is premiered by, New Zealanders living in different countries. Gareth Farr, composer, in New Zealand; Paul Horan, librettist, in Australia; and Julien Van Mellaerts, baritone, in […]
“Signed, Theo Schoon” is a feature film directed by Luit Bieringa. Tracing the story of one of our more complex characters, this layered portrait re-examines the exploits of influential outsider, Dutch immigrant artist Theo Schoon, told in his own words and through first-hand accounts. Gareth Farr composed the soundtrack, noting that he and Schoon have […]
Karanga is a powerful new interactive Māori contemporary dance work led by Artistic Director and award-winning choreographer Merenia Gray and co-creators Gareth Farr, Toni Huata, Mary-Lyn Chambers, Emma Mortimer, Jo Kilgour, Jeanine Clarkin, Miriama McDowell, Jason Te Kare, Luka Turjak, Tānemahuta Gray, Ariana Tikao and dancers. Inspired by Merenia Gray’s mother, the late Tiahuia Te Puea […]
Ngā Hihi o Matariki (the rays of Matariki, the Pleiades) is a significant work of symphonic proportions in seven movements by Gareth Farr, together with Ariana Tikao and Mere Boynton. Celebrating Māori new year, it recognises a celestial event of uniqueness and beauty. From Anne French’s review: For me, the most impressive movement was the […]
Gareth’s new album ‘Gareth Farr / Edward Elgar: Cello Concertos’, featuring Sébastien Hurtaud and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Benjamin Northey, has been released internationally on the UK label RUBICON. Gareth wrote his cello concerto after discovering some family history. Towards the end of WWI, his three great grand-uncles left […]
On Jun 25th 2020, The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Wellington City Council presented “Ngū Kīoro… Harikoa Ake – Celebrating Togetherness”, a celebration of the enormous effort New Zealanders made to protect the vulnerable and eliminate COVID-19. Gareth’s From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs featured.
The New Zealand String Quartet has brilliant performances of two of Gareth’s compositions, filmed beautifully and available on YouTube. Watch the NZSQ perform Te Tai-O-Rehua and He Poroporoaki.
NZTrio will be joined by musician and composer Horomona Horo playing taonga pūoro in a programme reflecting on our past, while celebrating new horizons and possibilities. It includes three newly commissioned pieces, from Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead (Ngāi Te Rangi), Martin Lodge and Jeremy Mayall, alongside works composed by Victoria Kelly, Richard Nunns and Gareth […]
Gareth has written a fanfare – “rumbling cacophony of sound to show off a bit” – for the 2019 Wellington International Pride Parade, that will bring the theme of FIRE | AHI to life and be performed by Orchestra Wellington! He felt compelled to write a Pride Fanfare because the opening of the parade cries […]
Gareth grew up with the photos of three young men in army uniform on the wall in his parents’ home. He didn’t know much about them until his mother recounted their history. The Byrne brothers, Frank, Vince and Charlie, all volunteered for the First World War. All three died in the last 18 months of […]