About the residents, and highlights of their stay

Gillian Whitehead

2005–2006: Dame Gillian Whitehead

Gillian, normally resident in Dunedin, was the first composer to stay at the Lilburn Residence. She helped to equip the house for composers and was a generous host who established a tradition of the regular social gatherings.

Gillian also:

  • completed Hineteiwaiwa, for taonga puoro, voice and 10 instruments
  • completed Karohirohi, for orchestra and harp for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Carolyn Mills
  • wrote a movement for the Davy Passion, a collaborative project with Wellington composers
  • began Puhake ki te rangi for taonga puoro and string quartet
  • was the subject of a documentary about her year at the residence, Gillian Whitehead – Composer in Residence directed and produced by Prue Donald of Wild Iris Productions
  • commissioned and donated a birdbath made by ceramic artist, Roberta McKoen.
Lyell Cresswell

2006–2007: Lyell Cresswell

Lyell and his wife Catherine came from Edinburgh to be in residence. They had an eventful year musically and socially. The Composers' Association of New Zealand hosted the Asia Pacific Festival and Conference, and SOUNZ hosted the International Association of Music Information Centres' Conference. Both events allowed many international musicians and composers to visit the house. Lyell and Catherine also became surrogate carers to a number of the neighbour's cats.

Lyell also:

  • completed Alas! How Swift, for trumpet and orchestra, premiered by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
  • completed Canterbury Rhymes, for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, premiered by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra
  • completed Mezzotinto for solo piano, premiered by Stephen De Pledge
  • completed Two Pages for solo viola, premiered by Gillian Ansell
  • began The Perfect Woman, a short opera premiered by Scottish Opera
  • donated two orginal artworks by Italian artist, Maurizio Bottarelli.
Samuel Holloway

2007–2008: Samuel Holloway

Samuel became our third resident through a call for applications – the first time that the composer in residence at the New Zealand School of Music had not needed the house. The opportunity allowed Samuel, from Auckland, to work closely with musicians based in Wellington.

Samuel also:

  • completed Strange Loops for large ensemble, which was premiered by Stroma in 2008
  • completed Terrain Vague, a 'landscape prelude' commissioned by Stephen De Pledge
  • worked on Domestic Architecture, commissioned by the Asian Composers League for performance in Korea.
Helen Bowater

2008–2009: Helen Bowater

With her parter, Andrew Caldwell, Helen returned to her home town of Wellington from Waiheke Island to spend a year at the Lilburn Residence. By special dispensation she was able to bring her elderly dog. During Helen's stay there were many happy social occasions and it became clear that the heating in the house required some improvement.

She donated the frames for two prints by Greg O'Brien celebrating the life of organist and conductor, Maxwell Fernie – the prints themselves were donated by Greg.

Helen also composed:

  • Atsinganos for solo violin, later published by Wai-te-ata Music Press
  • Nekhbet for solo piano, premiered by Wojciech Wisniewski and published by Wai-te-ata Music Press
  • sama-sama for flute, viola and harp
  • A Wild Sea for the Crossing, a setting of 3 poems by Gregory O’Brien for mezzo soprano and piano performed by Claire Scholes and David Kelly
  • Cottleston Pie, 3 piano pieces since performed by Blas Gonzalez and Dan Poynton
  • Sun Wu Kong “Monkey” for gamelan, string quartet, sheng, Rebab, singers, which was requested by Jack Body for his retirement concert and performed by Gamelan Padhang Moncar, NZ String Quartet, Wang Zheng-Ting (sheng), Budi Putra (rebab).
John Rae

2009–2010: John Rae

John's stay in the house was notable for several reasons: he was the first jazz composer to be in residence, and it was also the first time a whole family had moved in. John, his wife Suzy and their two children moved down to Wellington from Hawkes Bay and have remained in Wellington. Because of his background in jazz, John was able to collaborate with musicians at both the Massey and Victoria campuses of the New Zealand School of Music.

John also:

  • completed a number of works for jazz ensembles, orchestra, solo piano, string quartet and string quartet with saxophone
  • collaborated with Fariba Hachtroudi, the writer-in-residence at the Randell Cottage
  • donated a puka tree to the garden.
Chris Gendall

2010–2011: Chris Gendall

Chris returned to Wellington from New York to take up residence at the house. He appreciated the space and time that living there gave him to compose. He also helped host various events including the launch of new publications of Lilburn's music published by Promethean Editions.

Chris also:

  • completed Gravitas for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
  • completed Eigene Gestalt for SMP Ensemble.
  • began work on Reckless Abandon for saxophone, violin and piano
  • donated a ceramic bowl.
Juliet Palmer

2011–2012: Juliet Palmer

Juliet arrived from Toronto, Canada to take up residence with her husband James Rolfe, a leading Canadian composer, and their daughter Miriam. Among their memorable experiences were the variety of birds in the garden at the house and joining Gamelan Padhang Moncar at the New Zealand School of Music. Juliet was the first composer to have a residency with Orchestra Wellington, through a partnership with the New Zealand School of Music.

Juliet also:

  • completed Like an Old Tale, a chamber opera for chorus, ensemble, six vocal soloists and electroacoustics
  • completed Nails as a Rose for gamelan
  • revised Shelter, a full-length opera
  • began a large-scale a capella opera Sweat
  • began Three Pop Songs 'Solid Gold' for mezzo and orchestra, premiered by Orchestra Wellington and Madeleine Pierard in late 2013
  • donated a kaka beak plant to the garden and, to the house, framed historic photos of Thorndon and Lilburn from the Alexander Turnbull Library.
David Downes

2012–2013: David Downes

David moved across Wellington to take up residence with his partner, Ingrid Gotlieb. As well as being a mentor at the Composers' Association Nelson Workshop for the first time, David also had a trip to Berlin to present his film/music works. With Ingrid's help, the garden flourished.

David also:

  • began work on a new string quartet
  • began work on Confusion of Tongues, an electroacoustic work featuring samples of improvising string players
  • completed Dog Eat Dog for Strike, as part of their stage show Between Zero and One
  • completed Defense Mechanism, for mechatronic drum kit and Disklavier.

David and Ingrid gifted framed photographs of Thorndon that can usually be found in the kitchen.

Jeroen Speak

Dorothy Ker

2013–2014: Jeroen Speak and Dorothy Ker

Jeroen and Dorothy moved from London to Wellington to take up residence in the house – a return to New Zealand after a long absence. Jeroen was the Creative New Zealand/Jack C Richards Composer-in-Residence at the New Zealand School of Music, while Dorothy was a visiting Research Fellow there, on leave from her position at the University of Sheffield. They hosted a number of previous residents and social events at the house and heard many performances of their works by musicians around New Zealand.

Jeroen also:

  • revised Tarantelle for solo cello
  • completed String Quartet 3
  • completed Eratosthenes’ Sieve for ensemble
  • completed Particle Dust for percussion
  • completed Shadow Aspect for solo piano
  • completed Entropy for solo organ.

Dorothy also:

  • completed Reef which was premiered by 175 East in late 2013
  • completed Ulam’s Spiral for 19tet trumpet
  • completed Reef Fragments for string trio
  • started a piano trio, co-commissioned by Fidelio Trio (UK) and NZTrio
  • recorded a gentle infinity in the SOUNZ-NZSO-RNZC Recordings.

Jeroen and Dorothy both attended the ‘Composing Now’ Composers Association conference in Auckland, at which Dorothy was keynote speaker.

Ted Apel

As the composer in residence at the New Zealand School of Music in 2014-15 had not needed the house, the Lilburn Residence Trust held a call for applications and selected three composers.

 2014: Ted Apel

Ted spent September and October at the Lilburn Residence to work on a new sound installation based on the painting Central Otago by Rita Angus to commemmorate the Lilburn centenary in 2015. The work will highlight correspondences between the electronic music techniques of Douglas Lilburn and the painting techniques of Rita Angus.

Karlo MargeticTabea Squire

2014–15:  Karlo Margetic and Tabea Squire

Karlo and Tabea moved into the Lilburn Residence in November 2014 and stayed until the end of June 2015. They were successful in a call for applications for our 2014-15 residents.

Karlo was working exclusively on a piano concerto for Michael Houstoun, making use of the space the house had to offer in order to commandeer two electric keyboards for his workspace. The work, Melting Furniture was premiered by Orchestra Wellington in December 2015. 

Tabea worked on a set of dances for unspecified ensemble, which involved notating some basic choreography. She also started an orchestral work and completed a book of violin studies for beginner violinists which she uses with her students.

 John Elmsly

2015-2016: John Elmsly

John's residency coincided with the 10th year of composers living in the house and also Douglas Lilburn's centenary. He, together with the Trust, hosted an open day on 1 November to celebrate the centenary. During his year in Wellingotn, John and his partner, Darryl Foong greatly enjoyed, 'the vibrant but manageable city life.'

John also:

  • completed Three for Four for the Aotea Flute Ensemble
  • completed In October Light for mixed chamber ensemble which was premiered by Stroma at a concert marking Lilburn's centenary
  • collaborated with Reuben Chin to create One Mouth, Two Voices for soprano and alto saxophones
  • rewrote Three for Four into a compact version called Variations on a Prelude: Three for Four to One
  • took part in TVNZ's programme, Neighbourhood about Thorndon, its residents and history
  • has given the house on permanent loan, a ceramic bowl by Doreen Blumhardt and a painting of early Thorndon by Avis Higgs, a well-known textile designer and resident of Thorndon.
 Alison-Isadora-140x191

2016-2017: Alison Isadora 

Alison came from Amsterdam to enjoy the birds and the garden at the Lilburn house, and was very pleased to spend a year in Wellington where she could compose full time. She hosted some very enjoyable social occasions at the house and was joined by her husband, Dutch composer, Jan-Bas Bollen for 3 months.

Alison composed:

  • Songs of Remembering #1 for voice and violin, which was written for her mother’s 80th birthday
  • For John, a work for cello featuring double-stop harmonics and which was premiered by Australian cellist John Addison at the Adam Art Gallery
  • 54, for soprano and recorder performed by Rowena Simpson and Kamala Bain
  • Blessing, a memorial piece for Jack Body which was premiered by Baroque Voices
  • Critical State, a cross-media work in collaboration with Jan-Bas Bollen which they toured throughout NZ.

Alison donated a kaka beak plant which can be found under the camellias in the rear garden.

 Rob Thorne

2017-2018: Rob Thorne

Rob Thorne is Palmerston North-based composer, performer, educator and ethnomusicologist. As an expert in the performance of taonga puoro, the traditional instruments of Māori culture he enjoyed being surrounded by birds and bush, as well as getting to know Lilburn’s electronic works and responding to them through the taonga puoro.

Rob composed:

  • Tomokanga for tango puoro and string quartet which he premiered at the 2018 NZ Festival with the NZ String Quartet, and later arranged for the NZSM Orchestra
  • Te Kōkī, a multichannel sound installation
  • Tautitotito in collaboration with Celeste Oram and Alex Taylor  which will be performed later in 2018 in Darmstadt
  • music for Wellington's Matariki celebrations.

Rob's other activities included:

  • touring new live works with Berlin-based electronics artist Fis
  • realeasing a new album, Rewa (Rattle Records RAT D083) and the preparation of another for drums and taonga puoro with Reece McNaughten/Big Flip The Massive
  • developing a new course in Māori music for NZSM
  • giving various lectures including one at the 2017 NZ Musicological Society Conference
  • attending WOMEX’17 in Katowice, Poland.
 antonia-barnett-mcintosh-250

2018-2019 Antonia Barnett-Mcintosh

While living at 22 Ascot Street, I worked on a number of projects -- musical, collaborative, and political -- from composing instrumental music for others, to writing works to perform myself (everyday speech), to creating new works with artists from other disciplines, to running workshops and sessions on gender equity in music in Aotearoa New Zealand. I loved being in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington over this time and especially enjoyed sharing music by hosting house concerts and a talks series at Lilburn House.

List of activities

  • July 2018, face to face at the time on the time for speaking string quartet, Phaedra Ensemble, VOX:06 Exploring Radical Voices in Music, JuJu's bar and stage, London, England (& at Magpie House Concert \#1, September 2018)
  • August 2018, Composer Workshop/Artist Talk, Adam Concert Room, Te Kōkī--New Zealand School of Music
  • August 2018, Kontaklinsensuppe, solo voice, Composer in Residence Handover Concert, Hunter Council Chamber
  • September 2018, Magpie House Concert \#1, with Charlie Sdraulig, Marcus Jackson & Nick Snowball, Lilburn House
  • September-October 2018, Sound It Out Salon, Talks Series: Charlie Sdraulig, Rubbish Trip, Lisa Illean, Lilburn House
  • October 2018, Magpie House Concert \#2, with Bridget Douglas & Dylan Lardelli, Lilburn House
  • October 2018, I'm not really there, yet, am I? for two players, Magpie House Concert \#2, Lilburn House
  • October 2018, Things are things, installation, Music From Her: Suffrage Exhibition, Thistle Hall
  • October 2018, Things are things, exhibition opening performance, Music From Her: Suffrage Exhibition, Thistle Hall
  • October 2018, Women in Music Panel Chair, Music From Her: Suffrage Exhibition and Performances, Thistle Hall
  • October 2018, clean run, Stroma VOX FEM, for speaker and ensemble (as part of Suffrage 125)
  • October 2018, Open House, installation, Lilburn House Open Day -- Heritage Week
  • November 2018, Transcription Piece II, Performance Art Week Aotearoa, play\_station Gallery
  • November 2018, Sonic Performance Workshop, Performance Art Week Aotearoa, play\_station Gallery
  • November 2018, yesterday blocks, Stroma Essential Experimental, for two speaking voices, Pyramid Club
  • February 2019, travelling, travelling for Portalfest, The Fiction Room, Pegasus Books
  • February 2019, Visitors, 555 Moons, improvising typewriter with From Scratch, City Gallery Wellington
  • March 2019, Conceptual Writing Symposium, presentation: 'Passion Discunnel', Victoria University of Wellington
  • March 2019, Collaboration with Josie Archer and Kosta Bogoievski (dancers), beginning new work
  • March 2019, Passages Artist Talk — performance of a talk, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington
  • April 2019, Passengers, for solo performer, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington
  • April 2019, Futuna Chapel, for solo performer, Futuna Chapel, Karori
  • May 2019, MINTER, for five speaking voices, play\_station Gallery
  • May 2019, Gender Equity Workshop, Adam Concert Room, Te Kōkī--New Zealand School of Music
  • May 2019, Composer Workshop/Artist Talk, Adam Concert Room, Te Kōkī--New Zealand School of Music
  • May-June 2019, Composition Women, Non-Binary, Genderqueer Get Togethers, set up support group for students, with Sasha Leitman
  • June 2019, Offspring of Rain, sound for video, collaboration with Sorawit Songsataya, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, Wellington (exhibition September 2019)
Salina Fisher

2019-2021 Salina Fisher

  Jerome Kavanagh green

2022 Jerome Kavanagh

Grammy award winning Taonga Puoro practitioner/composer Jerome Kavanagh Poutama (Puoro Jerome) hails from the iwi of Ngāti Maniapoto - Matakore, Mōkai Pātea, Kahungunu, Ngāti Rangi - Awa Whanganui, Tūwharetoa (Māori) as well as Caomhanach (Irish) ancestry.

During his career Jerome has toured extensively all over the world, performing at New York's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, the Sydney Opera House and the British Museum. He is an established producer and composer of Taonga Puoro music for film, television series and commercial campaigns both in Aotearoa and overseas. Jerome was a featured solo artist and lyricist on the two-time Grammy award-winning album Calling All Dawns for his track Kia Hora te Marino recorded at Abbey Road studios, with the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. His collaborations include Christopher Tin, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Moana and the Tribe, Daniel Beddingfeild, Hayley Westenra, Joler Gaan (Bangladesh), Kevin Mark Trail (The Streets - UK), Small Island Big Song, Lachlan Anderson, Drax Project, Louis Baker, Ria Hall, Salina Fisher and NZ Symphony Orchestra.

Over the past decade he has also been sharing the "ORO ATUA" (a Māori sound journey experience) and has toured the ORO ATUA extensively around Aotearoa and throughout Australia, Europe, UK, Indonesia and the USA.

Jerome says, "For the majority of my 20 plus years as a full-time taonga puoro practitioner I have remained independent. The Lilburn residency gave me a window of space outside the usual hussle of maintaining a sustainable practice as a cultural practitioner/artist/musician in these modern times. The residency gave me space and time to focus on creating, uplifting and upholding the mana of our taonga pūoro."

Highlights while in the Lilburn House:

  • 100% Pure NZ Tourism NZ, RUN - [Matariki Ad/Film campaign]
  • Completed "[Nga Taritari o Matariki]
  • Silver Medal award at BEST awards Design Institute of NZ for ad music composition 2022 (Nga Taritari o Matariki)
  • BBC radio - Interview, UK (Nga Taritari o Matariki)
  • Herald Sun Interview, Australia (Nga Taritari o Matariki)
  • Maori Music Awards - Performance and Workshop, Hastings
  • TVNZ & TikTok live Matariki show - Performance with Drax Project, Auckland
  • Tohu o te Taiao - Koanga Festival, Te Pou Theatre, Auckland - Taonga Puoro perfomance
  • [Louis Baker ] Live Taonga Puoro performance at Wellington Jazz Festival Guest artist 
  • Ria Hall & NZSO: 2 show tour - Guest Taonga Puoro artist, Tauranga & Napier
  • Te Kooti trail - National Library Taonga Puoro performance with Deakin Palmer
  • Te Nehenehenui - Maniapoto awards - 2022 Creative Artist of the Year award
  • We are the River Documentary Feature Film - Taonga Puoro composer, Nertherlands/Norway production
  •  Rūrangi season 2: Rising Lights - TV series for HULU (USA) co-composer
  • with Salina Fisher and Neil McLeod performances: Japan Festival 2022 - Wellington TSB, Haumanu Matariki Festival - Te Papa 2022, Classical on Cuba Festival - Wellington