CANZ - Composers Association of New Zealand

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CANZ - Composers Association of New Zealand

The Composers Association of New Zealand is the association for all amateur and professional composers in New Zealand.

CANZ provides opportunities to composers through the Nelson Composers Workshop, the Asian Composers League and the International Society for Contemporary Music. CANZ also lobbies on behalf of its members to improve the situation for composers in New Zealand. CANZ contributes financially towards special projects, and awards two prizes annually. CANZ also produces two publications: Canzonetta, a bi-monthly newsletter, and Canzona, a retrospective yearbook.

21/03/2026

UPDATE: This event has now been cancelled. With Jörgen van Rijen, the trombone soloist for Andrew Norman’s work, reluctantly withdrawing from his planned NZSO performance this April due to injury, Andrew is unfortunately no longer travelling to Aotearoa for this project. This also means that Andrew's planned workshop for April 8 will be cancelled. We hope to reschedule this event at a future date.

The NZSO concerts on April 9 and 10 will still go ahead, with David Bremner stepping in to play Bryce Dessner's Trombone Concerto.

Andrew's workshop was planned on the same night as the Mondrian Ensemble's concert of new works from Aotearoa and abroad. This concert will also still go ahead, and tours to Auckland and Christchurch - visit https://musicgroup.nz/ for more details!

18/03/2026

From our friends at the Screen Music and Sound Guild!

The Sound of Avatar: Fire and Ash brings together three Wellington-based members of the film’s sound team, supervising sound editor Brent Burge, sound designer Hayden Collow, and supervising dialogue editor Martin Kwok, for a conversation on their work on one of the world’s most ambitious film productions.

Event details:
📅 Tuesday 31st March
📍 Massey Cinema, Block 10 (Massey University, Wellington)
🕕 Doors open: 6:00pm
🎤 Talk begins: 6:30pm
🎬 Free for SMSG members & students
🎟️ Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/from-miramar-to-pandora-industry-talk-with-the-avatar-fire-and-ash-sound-team

While the focus is on sound, the discussion will offer valuable insights for a wide range of screen practitioners. Your members may find particular relevance in:

Writers & story developers – understanding how sound supports narrative, tone, and emotional storytelling at the highest level

Directors & editors – insights into collaboration with sound departments and how sonic decisions shape final picture

Producers – perspective on workflows, scale, and the realities of large international productions

Actors & performers – how performance capture and dialogue processes influence and preserve on-screen performances

More broadly, the event offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at creative collaboration, evolving technologies, and the practicalities of filmmaking at scale. All from a Wellington-based team contributing to a major international franchise.

16/03/2026

📣 Applications open for AWE Emerging Composer Mentorship programme

❗Deadline: May 1st
ℹ️ More info: sounz.org.nz/news/awe-2025-emerging-composer-mentorship

Applications are now open for the At The World’s Edge Festival 2026, Emerging Composer Mentorship Programme. Open to composers between the ages of 18 and 23, the successful applicant will receive mentorship from AWE Composer in Residence, Michael Norris, to write a new string chamber work, approximately 5 minutes in length, to be premiered at the AWE 2026 Festival and performed at multiple school performances in the festival region. During the residency, the AWE Emerging Composer will attend performances, work with musicians in the rehearsals of their composition (supported by the Composer in Residence) and introduce their work in performances

13/03/2026

📣 Call for works 2026 Barlow Prize and Special Commission

❗️Deadline: June 1st 2026
ℹ️ More information: barlow.byu.edu

09/03/2026

📣 Call for Scores: ASAWCA competition for women composers

❗Deadline: December 31, 2026
ℹ️ More info: https://www.allmannasangen.se/asawca2027

Today, on International Women’s Day, registration opens for ASAWCA 2027, a composition competition for women composers. For the sixth time, Allmänna Sången and Anders Wall together with Gehrmans Musikförlag AB arrange the "Allmänna Sången & Anders Wall Composition Award". The winner will receive a prize of SEK 50,000, and the winning composition will be premiered by Allmänna Sången and published by Gehrmans Musikförlag AB.

05/03/2026

📣 Call for Scores Veneto Art & Music Summit (VAMS)
June 16-29th 2026, Veneto, Italy

❗️Deadline: March 22nd
ℹ️ More info: www.venetoams.com

Note there is a fee of €3450 for the composition programme , including housing, access to all activities, and local transportation.

VAMS is an international summer program in Italy with a strong focus on composition, offering emerging composers the opportunity to develop new works in a professional and collaborative environment alongside international faculty and professional ensembles.

31/10/2025

📣 Screen composition lecturing position available at University of Canterbury

❗️Applications close November 16th
ℹ️ More information: jobs.canterbury.ac.nz/jobdetails/ajid/NR9R9/Lecturer-Senior-Lecturer-in-Screen-Composition,28699

Located in Ōtautahi | Christchurch, Aotearoa | New Zealand

Full-time 37.5 hours per week (1.0 FTE)
Continuing (permanent) position
Generous annual leave provisions and professional development opportunities

19/10/2025

📣 CANZ is thrilled to announce SOUNZ as the recipient of the CANZ Citation Award for Services to NZ Music!

The CANZ Citation for Services to Aotearoa New Zealand music is presented annually to an individual or organisation in recognition of their outstanding contribution and commitment to Aotearoa New Zealand composition.

It has been our greatest privilege to work closely with SOUNZ to support, advocate for, and improve the accessibility of new New Zealand music. SOUNZ creates, maintains, and promotes a huge database of recordings, scores, articles and media on New Zealand music across genres. They also provide development opportunities for composers and promote New Zealand works to interested performers.

We were delighted to be joined by Chris Watson at the 2025 CANZ Composer workshop and conference, where this award was presented by newly elected CANZ President Pieta Hextall.

17/10/2025

📣 CANZ is proud to announce Victoria Kelly as the 2025 winner of the CANZ Trust Fund Award!

The CANZ Trust Fund Award is awarded to a composer and current CANZ member, either emerging or established, whom the CANZ committee wishes to honour for current compositional achievements. Victoria Kelly has been an invaluable member of our community, and we have been thrilled to follow her successes!

Her work 'Stabat Mater' was recently premiered by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and .

'[Victoria] is not only a fantastic composer in so many ways, but is also a staunch advocate for New Zealand composers and New Zealand music, and has done so much work over the years to make the composition scene stronger'.

This award was presented by outgoing CANZ President Simon Eastwood.

15/10/2025

CANZ Conference Closing Concert!

A joyful and emotionally moving closing to a wonderful week of sharing music! The closing concert featured works by John Elmsly, Nicholas Denton Protsack, Jessie Leov and Garling Wu, Patrick Shepherd, Dylan Lardelli, Angela Mote, Elliot Vaughan, Mark Menzies, Nathaniel Otley, Joshua Pearson, and Victoria Kelly.

📸

13/10/2025

CANZ Conference Day 2!

Day 2 opened with a fascinating keynote presentation from Dylan Lardelli, including the performance of a brand new piece composed for the conference. We also heard fantastic seminars from Nathaniel Otley, Lola Elvy, Patrick Shepherd, Matthew Burns, Jimmy Wang, and Alistair Vant. The formal portion of the conference closed with two thought-provoking presentations by Nicholas Denton Protsack and Chris Gendall, and lively discussions on music derived from natural materials and objects and musical memes!

The conference also featured a special presentation of Jesse Austin-Stewart's Music for Playstation, which was featured at the 2024 ISCM Festival in the Faroe Islands.

A huge thank you to the generous support of Creative NZ, APRA AMCOS, SOUNZ, and Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland for all the support to create such a vibrant and engaging event!

📸 / Nalin Shen

11/10/2025

CANZ Conference Day 1!

It was a delight to host the first CANZ conference since 2017! Day 1 featured a delightful and thought provoking keynote presentation from Victoria Kelly and seminars by Jesse Austin Stewart, Glenda Keam, Chris Adams, Crispin Hitchings-Anstice, Elliot Vaughan, ShuChen Gao, Alina Abraham, Andrew Stops, and William Green.

We were also treated to a conversation between and presentations from Luc Vitk, Dorother Ker, and Rachel Shearer.

We are particularly grateful to conference convenor Samuel Holloway who has given his time and skills so generously to bring together our community for this incredible event. His hard work and care for the conference was evidenced by all the joy and creativity on display throughout the weekend!

📸 / Jun Castelblanco-Zheng

Address

PO Box 4065
Wellington
6140

Website

http://www.canz.net.nz/

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