Jessie Leov

It’s been a unique experience working on a commissioned piece for Creative Waikato’s Kotahitanga initiative over the past few weeks. Founded in 2020, this project invites artists from all mediums to submit proposals each year to create new artworks that hold and express the importance of Kotahitanga – a united community against racism.

This year another diverse group of artists were chosen to create works which will be displayed in the Kotahitanga online gallery. My work, three reflections, for voice and piano, features three mini-movements and aims to evoke a poignant space that encourages the listener, or performer, to reflect on how they can extend kotahitanga in their community. It prioritises music’s universality and its ability to transcend language, racial and ethnic barriers.

The exhibition, which will take place at the University of Waikato’s Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts gallery space, has been postponed due to the current Covid restrictions. The online gallery will soon be featuring the works from this year’s artists – click here to visit. I’m really looking forward to checking out all the creations and to attending the exhibition opening when it comes around. Grateful to be involved in this meaningful project.

After I handed in my masters portfolio in mid-July, I got started on a commissioned piece for Auckland-based chamber choir Cantorum.

The commission is for a piece between four to six minutes in length for a cappella SATB choir, suitable to be performed at a Christmas concert. Before I started searching for a text, I had the pleasure of going along to one of Cantorum’s rehearsals and that really helped me to get a feel for the group and the direction in which I might take the piece.

The text that I chose is a poem called Snow Song, published in 1897 by poet Frank Dempster Sherman (1860-1916). It paints a beautiful picture of the wintry countryside and the language has an inherent musicality that drew me in as soon as I read it. It also has a festive, joyful nature which brings back fond memories of Christmas 2016 which I spent in Canada – my first and only winter Christmas, something we are sadly bereft of here in Aotearoa!.

After I hand over the score at the start of September the choir will begin rehearsing it, when Covid allows, in preparation for its scheduled premiere at Christmas with Cantorum, 11 December 2021 at All Saints Church, Ponsonby. Whether or not the concert goes ahead this year will depend on how the Covid alert levels play out in the coming weeks, but either way it will eventually be performed!

Whenever it does take place, I’m looking forward to the performance and will be sure to film it so I can share it with you.

Snow Song
Frank Dempster Sherman

Over valley, over hill,
Hark, the shepherd piping shrill!
Driving all the white flocks forth
From the far folds of the North.
Blow, Wind, blow ;
Weird melodies you play,
Following your flocks that go
Across the world to-day.

How they hurry, how they crowd
When they hear the music loud
Grove and lane and meadow full
Sparkle with their shining wool.
Blow, Wind, blow
Until the forests ring:
Teach the eaves the tunes you know,
And make the chimney sing!

Hither, thither, up and down
Every highway of the town,
Huddling close, the white flocks all
Gather at the shepherd s call.
Blow, Wind, blow
Upon your pipes of joy;
All your sheep the flakes of snow
And you their shepherd boy!

I recently had the privilege of having my piece for SATB choir, Let My Country Awake, programmed in the final gala concert of the NZ Choral Federation’s biennial convention Choral Connect. The concert took place on Saturday 17th July, the final day of the convention, at the Dorothy Winstone Theatre in Auckland. My piece opened the second half of the programme, performed by Voices NZ Chamber Choir, and conducted by Karen Grylls, followed by a new work by Celeste Oram.

Earlier in the day participants of the convention attended a range of sessions focussing on composition including a spectacular session with Taonga Puoro composer and practitioner Horomona Horo. Additionally, over the course of three hours, five choral works by student and emerging composers were read through by Voices NZ, with guidance from David Hamilton and conductor Karen Grylls. This included Let My Country Awake which was performed later that day. Like previous workshop experiences, this was a valuable learning opportunity and I’m incredibly grateful I had the opportunity to work with David, Karen and Voices NZ.

I’m looking forward to getting hold of the video of the performance and will share when it becomes available. The concert was a truly remarkable evening – I was blown away by the performances and I’m honoured that my music had a place among them x

The premiere of Call of the Ocean at Nelson Centre of Musical Arts on Saturday 19th June marked the end of a nearly year-long journey of creative collaboration and music-making. It was a privilege to be selected as recipient of the 2020-2021 SOUNZ Community Commission alongside Nelson Bays Harmony Chorus, in August of 2020. The commission was established in 1999 and each year brings together a New Zealand composer and community group, thanks to funding from an anonymous donor, to create an original piece of music.

The process of building this piece from the ground up in collaboration with the chorus members was so rewarding. Their background is mainly in barbershop, jazz and modern a cappella so delving into the choral world was a new experience for them and one which they fully embraced. They rose to the challenge and we worked hard to make this piece of music their own. Something particularly special about Call of the Ocean is that the text (as seen at the bottom of this post) was written by members of the chorus.

Our shared goal leading up to the premiere was to truly capture the audience, drawing them into a mesmerising sound world evoking the ocean. We were thrilled with the audience response, and a number of audience members commented how moved they were by the performance. Safe to say, this collaboration has ended on a high note for both the chorus and myself.

Many thanks go out to the chorus for joining me on this special journey, to the team who put many hours into organising the premiere concert, to SOUNZ and the donor of the commission, and everyone who supported us along the way x

CALL OF THE OCEAN
by members of Nelson Bays Harmony Chorus

The ocean may separate
A mistress of many moods
You take and you give
You pull and you push
You sustain us with your gift

The ocean may separate
The lash of a storm at sea
You take and you give
You roar and you soothe
You reflect the cloudless sky
And you carry us home

Bright light over the ocean blue
And the crashing of sea on shore
Lift my spirit from within,
The sound of the sea as the waves come thundering in,
Clear waters on golden sand,
The prow of a boat as it reaches our land,
Lift my spirit from within

As I stand here making imprints in the sand
The ocean; it draws my soul home

2021 is well underway and a lot has happened in my life recently, both musically and personally, so naturally I felt like writing a blog post all about it.

BYE BYE AUCKLAND!

As a tiny house enthusiast I was very excited to come across one that was affordable to rent and parked in a lovely spot in Waikato. I’ve officially moved in, after a month of housesitting around Auckland! I’ll be going up to Auckland weekly for work and uni so I feel like I get the best of both worlds that I love – the busy exciting life and the quiet country life. It’s been great so far and I’m setting up an epic workspace which I’m hoping will help elevate my productivity to never-before-seen levels 😂

SOUNZ COMMUNITY COMMISSION!

From now until June I’ll be travelling down to Nelson monthly to work with the Nelson Bays Harmony Chorus on our collaborative piece funded by the SOUNZ Community Commission. It’s been so cool seeing it all come together and I’m really looking forward to its premiere – 19th June at the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts.

AWARDS!

In December I was stoked to find out that my choir piece Nunc Dimittis was Highly Commended in the 25 & Under Category in the 2020 Compose! Aotearoa Choral Composition Competition. This particular event actually marks the end of an era because I will never again be able to enter competitions restricted to ages 25 and under… as I have now exceeded that age limit :(

More recently, I was thrilled and honoured to find out that I was the recipient of the 2020 Douglas Mews Composition Prize, which is awarded to a composition student at the University of Auckland each year. This is the third time I’ve submitted a piece for consideration, so I’m reminded that persistence really is key.

AVA & LEOV!

My sweet friend and duo partner Avalon is moving to Wellington for a year to start her masters in music therapy, so there won’t be much AVA AND LEOV action happening in 2021. We did a couple of busking gigs post-COVID but haven’t played a whole lot since last summer. But we see each other as much as we can to hang out as we are friends first and duo second 💚 AVA & LEOV will definitely be back!

WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING?

• Continuing in my itinerant position at Rosehill College as composition and songwriting tutor, mentoring senior students throughout the year as they write music for their NCEA Music internal assessments.
• Working with the Sacred Heart Girls College barbershop chorus and quartets this year in my new itinerant role – super excited! Aiming towards the regional contest in late June and all going well, the national contest in September.
• Leading the Young Singers in Harmony management team as we make a comeback after all our events were cancelled in 2020 (thanks Covid). National Convention is heading to Palmerston North this year!
• And better not forget, my Master’s degree portfolio (including thesis) is due in July 😱

So, plenty to do!

‘Til next time – I hope 2021 is proving to be a wonderful year for you all so far 💜