Michael Norris (composer)

Michael Norris (born 1973) is a New Zealand composer, music theorist and Senior Lecturer in composition at Victoria University of Wellington.

Early life and education

Norris was born in 1973.^[1] He attended Logan Park High School and the University of Otago.^[2] He gained a BMus (Hons) from Victoria University and an MMus from the City, University of London in 1997.^[3][4]

Career

Norris teaches composition, sonic art and post-tonal music theory at Victoria University.^[5] In addition to his compositions Norris is a software developer and music theorist and has authored several papers on harmonic theory.^[5] In the mid-90s Norris belonged to a group called the 1995ers whose "compositional reference point seems to have been the 1950s and ’60s avant-garde, with all of the political baggage that comes with this movement."^[6]

Norris, with other musicians and conductor Hamish McKeich, established the contemporary music ensemble Stroma in 2000.^[7] He was the University of Otago’s Mozart Fellow in composition in 2002.^[2]

In the 1990s Norris began to study taonga pūoro (traditional Māori instruments) with Richard Nunns.^[8] Mātauranga (Rerenga) was commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to mark the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook's landfall in New Zealand.^[9] The orchestra, taonga pūoro and electronic music are woven together to symbolise the mixing of Māori culture and traditional knowledge with western culture.^[9][10]

Norris's compositions have been played by New Zealand performers and internationally with his work Sgraffito premiered at the Donaueschingen Festival in Germany in 2010.^[3][5]

Awards

In 2003, Norris won the composition competition The Lilburn Prize, named in memory of composer Douglas Lilburn^[11][5] and the Composers Association of New Zealand Trust Fund award in 2011.^[12]

Norris has won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award at the APRA New Zealand music awards four times: in 2014 for Inner Phases, in 2018 for Sygyt, in 2019 for the Violin Concerto Sama and in 2020 for Mātauranga (Rerenga).^[2][13] He donated his prize money in 2020 to Haumanu, a group dedicated to the revival of taonga pūoro and performing.^[8]

Selected works

Compositions

• Chrysalis (1996) – for flute and tape
• Scintilla (2002) – for large chamber ensemble
• Rays of the sun, shards of the moon (2003) – for symphony orchestra
• 14 islands (2005) – for flute/bass flute, prepared harp and unpitched percussion
• From the lonely margins of the sea (2005) – for piano and small orchestra
• Volti (2006) – for piano and orchestra
• Icons and artifice (2007) – for bass clarinet duo, ensemble and live electronics
• Sgraffito (2010)
• Inner Phases (2014) – for string quartet and Chinese instrument ensemble
• Piccled (2014) – for vocalising piccolo player
• Deep field: III (2016) – for flute and live electronics
• Sygyt (2017) – for orchestra, throat singer and optional live electronics
• Violin Concerto Sama (2018)

• Mātauranga (Rerenga) (2019) – for orchestra, taonga pūoro and live electronics

Selected publications

• Norris, M., & Young, J. (2001). Half-heard sounds in the summer air: electroacoustic music in Wellington and the South Island of New Zealand. Organised Sound, 6(1), 21–28. doi:10.1017/S1355771801001042
• Norris, M. (2003). Only in Wellington. New Zealand Listener, 4 Oct 2003; v.190 n.3308, 62.
• Norris, M. (2004). Working at the rock-face - Chris Watson. Canzona, v.25 n.46, 24–28.
• Norris, M. (2006). Tessellations and enumerations : generalising chromatic theories. Canzona, v.26 n.48, 87–95.
• Norris, Michael, & Adams, Christopher. (2006). Composition & pedagogy : a discussion. Canzona, v.26 n.48, 96–101.
• Norris, M. (2007). Tonal desires. Canzona, v.28 n.49, 58–67.
• Norris, Michael. Guidelines for Organising a Composition Competition. Composers Association of New Zealand