I see composition a little like a sculpture – manipulating sounds and moving things around until one is satisfied. Sometimes working instinctively, sometimes in a more structured way.
This is the website of David Hamilton (b. 1955), one of New Zealand's most widely performed composers with a strong interest in, and involvement with, choral music. Works have been commissioned by choirs in England, Japan, Ireland, Canada, the USA and Finland.
Until 2001 David was Head of Music at Epsom Girls Grammar School in Auckland. From 2002 he has been concentrating on composing and choral conducting, reducing teaching commitments to part-time. He has conducted St Mary's Schola (St Mary's College 2008-2012) and currently has two choir at Auckland Grammar School. He was a foundation member of the New Zealand Youth Choir (1979-1982), has been composer-in-residence with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (1999), and has also been Deputy Music Director of Auckland Choral (1996-2011).
His music has won numerous competitions locally, and also in Italy (2000), the USA (2005, 2006, 2008, 2016 and 2019), Israel (2007), and the UK (2008). In 2018 he was awarded the SOUNZ Community Commission for a new work for youth groups in Taranaki.In 2019 “Electric” for chamber ensemble was a winner in the Atlanta Contemporary Ensemble’s composer’s contest. In 2020 “Night Songs III” won the Delta Omicron Composition Competition (USA), choral works took 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in the IX Amadeus International Choral Composition Competition 2020 (Spain), “Canticle 6: Fragments from Lorca” won the Philip Neill Memorial Prize in Music (NZ), and and “Whirligig” won the Orpheus Music Composition Competition 2020 (Australia). In 2021 “A Celestial Map of the Sky” won the Claremont Chorale Composer Contest 2020 (USA).and in 2022 “Summer Streams” won the Twyford Singers (UK) composer competition..
He is busy as a choral conductor with community choirs, having worked with Tauranga Civic Choir, Napier Civic Choir, Taupo Choral Society and South Auckland Choral Society, as well as conducting Auckland Choral on several occasions. From 2017 he has been Principal Guest Conductor with Pakuranga Choral Society.
He is active as a choral adjudicator, and is in demand as a workshop presenter in New Zealand and overseas. In July 2019 he presented at the Hong Kong Choral Summit. He has lectured in both the School of Music and School of Education at the University of Auckland.
In 2020 he was an adjudicator for the composition section of The Big Sing, and also (as well as in 2021) for the Choirs Aotearoa NZ national composers’ competition. In 2022 he was a regional adjudicator for The Big Sing, and again was an adjudicator for the Choirs Aotearoa composers’ competition.
a fruitful start to the year
The early part of my year tends to involve writing music for the schools I'm involved with. But alongside this there were a number of other requests for new scores. Read more
“Manukau Songs: A Choral Symphony” (2023)
This major work was written from late 2022 through to mid-2023. Commissioned by the Manukau Symphony Orchestra to mark their 30th anniversary, it was premiered on 13th August 2023. Scored for solo counter-tenor (Stephen Coco Diaz) and baritone (James Ioelu), children’s choir (Puhinui School Choir), large mixed-voice choir (Auckland Choral) and orchestra, the five movement work sets poems by Manukau poet Yvonne Amery, alongside texts in te reo Maori. William Dart, reviewing the work in the NZ Herald said:
David Hamilton’s Manukau Songs: A Choral Symphony may have been commissioned to celebrate the orchestra’s three-decade achievement, but it also paid homage to the region itself, through sensitive settings of Yvonne Amery’s poetry. From the first movement, bringing in the clear and confident voices of the Puhinui School Choir, one was struck by Hamilton’s skilful blending of his signature minimalist style with broad and intensely approachable lyricism.
This climaxed in the final movement in which Auckland Choral, in impressive form through the evening, contributed powerfully to the final dramatic evocation of the sun. The orchestra, too, had its “time in the sun” in the hurtling The Winds and the Waves, a scherzo of dashing volatility.
The heart of Manukau Songs lies in a central movement that combined settings of Amery’s melancholic “Tristesse” with a 19th-century lament, in te reo, for chief Epiha Putini. These were eloquently handled by Stephen Coco Diaz, a countertenor with remarkable presence and projection, and bass James Ioelu who conveyed the poetry and poignancy of his farewell. These two singers, in full flight, set against Hamilton’s shimmering orchestral korowai, formed the ultimate salute to Auckland’s most courageous orchestra.
2021/2022 SUCCESSES
In 2021 “A Celestial Map of the Sky” won the Claremont Chorale Composer Contest 2020 (USA). This multi-movement work for choir and chamber orchestra sets texts about the stars and their relationship with mankind.
In March I sent a piece off to this Italian competition: 1st International Choral Composition Competition "... to see the stars again" ANDCI 2021 On texts by Dante Alighieri 700 years after his death (1321-2021). There were 105 entries from "the 5 continents" (not sure where that puts NZ!). Behind the 1st/2nd/3rd placings there were 7 'honorable mentions', all ranked by score. My "Lo Giorno Se N'andava" (a text from "Inferno" Canto II) was placed 5th in those 7 mentions. So 8th overall I guess. Mostly Italian composers in the placings, so I was pleased with the result, having had to choose and set a text in Italian!
In 2022 "Night Watch" was awarded a special mention in the International Federation for Choral Music's 5th composer's competition, and “Summer Streams” won the Twyford Singers’ competition (UK).
2020: A SUCCESSFUL YEAR FOR COMPETITIONS!
The lockdowns in 2020 meant some extra time for composing, and some time to consider composer competitions. In 2020 “Night Songs III” won the Delta Omicron Composition Competition (USA). This is the oldest continuous competition for composers in the USA, and previous winners include some major names. Choral works took 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in the IX Amadeus International Choral Composition Competition 2020 (Spain) - a competition for works for treble voice choirs. “Balada Amarilla” won the section for works with piano accompaniment, and “Dos Lunas de Tarde II” took 2nd place, and “Dos Lunas de Tarde I” took 3rd place in the section for unaccompanied pieces. Composers could enter two works in each category - I entered 3 pieces which were all placed!
“Canticle 6: Fragments from Lorca” won the Philip Neill Memorial Prize in Music (NZ). This annual competition dates back to the early 1940s. I had won in previously in 1978 with “Canticle 1”. And finally, “Whirligig” for recorder quartet (alto, tenor, bass and great bass) won the Orpheus Music Composition Competition 2020 (Australia).
Winning and placed works in the IX Amadeus International Choral Composition Competition (Spain, 2020)
THREE PREMIERES POSTPONED DUE TO THE covid-19 SITUATION
Three works scheduled for premieres were casualties of the COVID-19 situation.
”Mountain Music” was due to be premiered on 20th March in New Plymouth. Five days before the premiere it was decided it was too risky to bring a couple of hundred school children together, and by the day of the performance limits of 100 had been placed on gatherings anyway. It is hoped that the premiere will happen later in term 3 (early September). For further information about the work see below.
Update: “Mountain Music” was finally performed, and recorded by SOUNZ, on Friday 18th September 2020. It was rehearsed and recorded in the Theatre Royal, New Plymouth, but without an audience. Concert restrictions due to COVID19 meant a live performance with audience was not possible. The performance is now available on the SOUNZ website. It can also be viewed on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izzkPBevkgM
“Electric” was scheduled for its premiere in Atlanta (USA) on 1st April. This work for small ensemble (flute, clarinet, saxophone, drum kit, cello and double bass) was a winner in the call for scores by the Atlanta Contemporary Ensemble. The work will be presented as a choreographed piece, and is based on a painting by Atlanta artist Krista M Jones. The work was finally performed in 2022 and can be viewed on YouTube here (the choreography is not mine!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rEpvHYf-GY
“Whakarongo mai!” was written at the request of Dr Jennifer Flory for premiere by her combined university choirs at Georgia College (GA, USA) on 4th April. The work is for SSA and SATB semi-choruses, with large SATB choir, and piano duet accompaniment. It is being premiered on 1st April 2023.
Mount Taranaki
“MOUNTAIN MUSIC” PREMIERE POSTPONED
(NEW PLYMOUTH)
"The words are very moving and Hamilton has a real feel for bringing out the emotion in the music." “Mountain Music” is the 2018 SOUNZ Community Commission. For more information and background click here….
chasing performances to rome
and hong kong — july 2018
In July 2018 the top choirs of Westlake Girls and Boys High Schools (Choralation and Voicemale) undertake a tour to Italy. As part of that trip the choirs sang Mass in St Peter's in Rome. For the performance I had been asked to write five new pieces for the choirs to sing. These were an Introit, an anthem, two pieces for communion and a blessing for the end of the service.
Having missed the premiere of "Songs of the Moon and Stars" by the NZ Secondary Students Choir (in order to be in Rome the same weekend), I left the Westlake tour and returned to Hong Kong to hear the choir sing there. Combining with two local choirs, my piece was given a lovely performance conducted by Andrew Withington, and featuring local erhu and guzheng players.
With David Squire in St Peter’s, Rome.
CARNEGIE HALL PREMIERE
MAY 2018
On May 19th 2018 my setting of Wilfred Owen's poem "On My Songs" was premiered in Carnegie Hall, New York. Requested by conductor Dr Jennifer Flory (Director of Choral Activities at Georgia College), the work was presented in one of the MidAmerica Productions concerts. Scored for choir and chamber orchestra.
NZTRIO PREMIERE GENERATES PUBLICITY
The premiere of "The Faraday Cage" on 16 September 2015 (with subsequent performances on the 18th and 20th) generated some very positive reviews and also this article in the New Zealand Herald. Headlined "Emotional contact is essential" the article covered some of my philosophy of composition, in particular the importance of working with community groups.
Youtube links to recent performances
