Jessie Leov

I’m thrilled to share that my work marble, bark, silver has been selected for this year’s NZ Composer Sessions taking place at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington in September. Nine orchestral pieces by NZ composers will be recorded by the NZSO during the Sessions – I’m really looking forward to hearing everyone’s work.

marble, bark, silver was part of my masters portfolio and was inspired by a series of three poems by NZ poet Deborah Norrie-Jones. I can’t wait to hear it brought to life by the talented musicians of the NZSO.

Very grateful to be taking part!

2022 NZ Composer Sessions | Ngā Huihuinga Hāpai i ngā Kaitoko o Aotearoa

It was a huge honour to have my work for piano trio, convergency, premiered by the immensely talented NZTrio at the University of Auckland School of Music on Friday 6 May. This work was inspired by an artwork by Nelson artist Lee Woodman who is also a family friend. I entered convergency into NZTrio’s 2021 AudioVisualise composing competition and had the privilege of being selected as one of the six winning works, from a pool of works submitted by tertiary students from around Aotearoa.

The Winners’ Concert was originally scheduled to take place in October 2021 but was postponed because of the Covid lockdown at the time. I was very fortunate to be at the rescheduled concert in person as the other composers were spread across the country, but luckily there was a livestream which meant everyone could tune in. It was so nice to have my family watching and to read their excited messages during the interval – isn’t technology great. I was beyoooond thrilled with NZTrio’s performance of my work, what an absolute dream.

Very grateful for the opportunity and I’m looking forward to sharing the recording with you!

Thrilled to be on this programme of female composers. Performed by Michigan-based Celebris Ensemble as part of their 2022 concert series, this performance will include the international premiere of Let My Country Awake, and the first overseas performance of my work full-stop so it’s a pretty cool career milestone. There isn’t a livestream but I’m hoping to get hold of a recording. I will definitely be there in spirit!

Excited to get the news that my piece for a cappella mixed voices, Let My Country Awake, will be performed in Michigan, USA, in Celebris Ensembles’ 2022-2023 season after being named as a finalist in their composition competition. Watch this space!

Well December has arrived and it’s been quite the eventful year, in more ways than one.

The silver lining of the covid situation is that 2022 is going to be filled with all of the postponed concerts and events that couldn’t go ahead this year. Turns out there’s quite a bit to look forward to already!

Read on for all the details.

NZTrio Winners Concert. This was due to take place in Auckland in October but will now be held sometime next year. The six winning works of the 2021 NZTrio AudioVisualise Composing Competition will be performed, including my piece convergency.

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Our Voice Orchestral Readings. This was first scheduled for September, then postponed to November, and now postponed to 2022. My piece marble, bark, silver for chamber orchestra will have its first airing at this workshop. It’s in three movements, two of which were pretty experimental, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Kotahitanga Public Opening. The Kotahitanga exhibition, which I wrote this piece for, opened in September at the University of Waikato with a small launch event and karakia attended by the artists involved, instead of the planned public opening (due to Covid alert levels). There has been some talk of holding the public opening event early next year, so if this does happen I may have to drag some of my friends down from Auckland to come along ;)

lady of the river premiere. This piece, written for SATB choir, piano, and string orchestra, was meant to be performed in October 2020 by the University of Auckland Student Choir and Orchestra at a joint concert. Of course, covid stepped in with the August/September Auckland outbreak in 2020, and again in 2021. Hopefully 2022 will be third time lucky.

Cantorum Christmas Concert. Cantorum commissioned me to write this piece for their Christmas concert. It was originally scheduled to be performed in December 2021 but due to the extended lockdown in Auckland, it will now (all going well) be premiered at their 2022 Christmas concert.

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This will be my last post for 2021 – I’ve managed to publish one post per month for the past seven months and I must say I’m quite proud of myself. My goal for 2022 is to do one post per month for the whole year which should be very doable.

For now, wishing you all a very merry Christmas – see you in the new year xx