Major New Commission for Solo Piano

This project is to support the commission of a major new experimental work by Tāmaki Makaurau-based composer Samuel Holloway.

This work, for solo piano, will be performed and recorded by pianist Stephen De Pledge, one of New Zealand’s leading pianists. Stephen performs regularly in solo recitals and in chamber music settings, and has commissioned and performed music by a significant number of New Zealand composers. Samuel has worked with Stephen on multiple occasions over the last 15 years.

Samuel’s creative work ranges from orchestral and chamber music for concert performance to multi-modal installation work. His work is variously concerned with aspects of musical complexity, perception, and time; ambiguous affective states such as boredom; musical notation and its continuing potential as a site for exploration; and the conventions and expectations involved in shared performing and listening experiences.

“I started learning the piano at age five via the Suzuki method, and my enthusiasm for the instrument and its music has never wavered—though, sadly, my performance ability did. I have a special fondness for the piano music of Brahms, Boulez, Satie, Messiaen, and Mal Waldron (to name but a few)... and it is possible their influence will bleed into this new work that seeks to bring together everything I know and feel about this instrument in a single place. The piece will be expansive, strange, physical, challenging, and seductive.”

You can hear Samuel's work here, here and here. And you can hear Samuel discuss his work here. (Thank you to RNZ for these recordings).

The funding will enable Samuel dedicated time to intensely focus on this major project through the first six months of 2023, with performances and the recording process taking place later in 2023.

Thank you for your support!

[Image: detail from Upright Piano (2013), Samuel Holloway et al., from the Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki]

More about Samuel:

Samuel’s work has been performed by prominent artists and ensembles in Asia, Europe and North America; these performers include Klangforum Wien, the Miyata-Yoshimura-Suzuki Trio and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He has longstanding relationships with performers in New Zealand and overseas, including Dylan Lardelli, Mark Menzies, Tosiya Suzuki, and the NZTrio.

Samuel has undertaken a number of projects with the collective et al., and their collaborative work is held in the Chartwell Collection at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. His work has been recorded and published by Rattle Records, Atoll Records, Score and Wai-te-ata Music Press.

Samuel has been the recipient of multiple awards and residencies. He was the 2013 Mozart Fellow at the University of Otago, and a 2016 Civitella Ranieri Fellow in Umbria, Italy. He was a finalist in the 2011 SOUNZ Contemporary Award for Sillage, a work that was selected to represent New Zealand at the 2014 ISCM World New Music Days in Poland.