ONZM
Composer
Biography
John Psathas - ComposerONZM
"There is no doubt that the vibrancy and organic energy that arises from John's music brings the performers and audience together as one unit - we all jump on the same ride and end up having an amazing journey! John's craftsmanship creates extremes in every sense and for that one cannot categorize his music - he truly manages to communicate with all people".
Dame Evelyn Glennie 2006
Jim Svejda, 2011, quote on the John's score for the movie Good For Nothing"
John Psathas (1966) is one of a few New Zealand composers who have made a mark on the international scene, particularly in Europe and North America. He is now widely considered one of the three most important living composers of the Greek Diaspora. Born in Wellington, raised in Taumaranui and Napier, John is the son of Greek immigrant parents who arrived in New Zealand in the early 1960s.
John has collaborated with, and his music has been commissioned and performed by, many great musicians and orchestras around the world. These include Michael Brecker, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Michael Houstoun, Joshua Redman, The New Zealand String Quartet, Serj Tankian, Federico Mondelci, The New Zealand Trio, Little Bushman, Pedro Carneiro, the Takacs Quartet, The Netherlands Blazers Ensemble, the Halle Orchestra (UK), the Royal Philharmonic (UK), the Melbourne Symphony, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia, the NZSO, the Berlin Radio Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and many others.
John has a natural inclination and innate ability for mega-projects. Since writing much of the ceremonial music for the 2004 Olympic Games, John's music has been on the radar screen of a wider public than that normally associated with contemporary classical music.
John received an Arts Foundation Laureate Award in 2003 and was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2005.
John Psathas with the Rt Honourable Helen Clark, the then Prime Minister,at the launch of the CD/DVD View From Olympus. The largest ever orchestral recording project in New Zealand's history.
"The nuts and bolts of the music are something I avoid talking about. I have been surrounded by musical analysis and deconstruction my entire life and I have an almost superstitious dread of destroying the magic of music by discussing the materials in any technical way. When I write it is a revelatory experience; I do not know in what way the piece will unfold as I begin the first few bars. I spend a great deal of time writing these first few bars, sometimes months. Somehow when I have finally found the first seeds of the piece I just know. Then I listen many times to this idea, and I try very hard not to think too far ahead. Just the next sound, the next gesture, the next utterance. This is enough for me, tiny steps. It is like nurturing an extremely fragile plant, working intensely and continuously, to sustain it and allow it to grow naturally and organically. From these first steps the language of the piece begins to emerge, and each time it is different. The most important role I play in the birth of these pieces is to listen, to the whisperings of the essence of the work, as this essence tries to communicate to me what it wants to become. It is a very fragile and fraught process. I have to be totally engaged, but I must not get in the way. There is a process going on that I do not fully understand; yet I must manage it and work out how to let it continue."
John Psathas - from the essay "When I am creating music..."
Details of John Psathas achievements in composing
3 times winner of best classical album
2 times winner of SOUNZ Contemporary Award
2 times finalist Wellington of the Year
Finalist New Zealander of the year
Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award
Officer of the Order of New Zealand Merit
