Navigation for Music Alive
Gillian Karawe Whitehead
Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead, Ngāi Te Rangi, DNZM has composed music that ranges from solo pieces, chamber music and songs to choral and orchestral works, opera, and cross-cultural collaborations, including most notably the taonga puoro. She was awarded one of the twenty Arts Foundation Arts Icon medals in 2018, and became a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009.
To create your own playlist:
Click the 'Add to Playlist' button on the pieces you want to listen to.
Each piece will be added to the bottom of a list created on a new page: the RNZ Playlister.
Click 'Play' on the Playlister to listen through to your selections.
Collection items
- 
Celebrating Dame Gillian Whitehead on the occasion of her 80th birthday23 Apr 2021One of our most distinctive composers, Dame Gillian's work weaves classical music and te o Māori together across many forms, often incorporating taonga pūoro (Māori traditional instruments) Video, Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
The Lilburn Lecture 2019: Breath of the Birds by Dame Gillian Whitehead16 Nov 2019In 'Breath of the Birds' Dame Gillian Whitehead discusses the origin of taonga puoro, their revival, and how she has used traditional Māori musical instruments in her compositions. Audio, Gallery 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Turanga-nui (première)15 Sep 2018New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hamish McKeich. Video, Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Auckland Philharmonia - Ebb & Flow10 Jun 2022Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead's new violin concerto, written for Andrew Beer and the Auckland Philharmonia, is the highlight of this concert. James Feddeck conducts. Audio 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Ka maranga nga kapua12 Dec 2021Performed by NZTrio at their concert "Dramatic Skies - Cirrus", Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021. Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
WHITEHEAD: Lullaby for Matthew22 Jan 2022Performed by pianist Jian Liu at his concert, 'Nocturnes', for Chamber Music New Zealand, Public Trust Building, Wellington, 14 April 2021. Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Tūmanako - Journey through an Unknown Landscape29 Nov 2018Performed by pianist Modi Deng at the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's concert "A Women's Place", Auckland Town Hall, 29 November 2018. Video, Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
WHITEHEAD: Because of the child3 Mar 2022‘Because of the child’ 
 by Gillian Whitehead, words Fiona Farrell.The World Premiere of 21 x 21 by soprano Jenny Wollerman and concert pianist Jian Liu artfully pairs Aotearoa’s female composers and… Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Hine-pū-te-hue10 Mar 2022Performed by Bob Bickerton (taonga puoro) with New Zealand String Quartet at the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts 2022. Video, Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: the improbable ordered dance13 Dec 2011The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Young at 'Made in New Zealand' concert in 2006. Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian Karawe WHITEHEAD: Torua27 Aug 2022Performed by Andrew Beer and Sarah Watkins at the ISCM World New Music Days concert 'Ngā Kaiwaka', The Loft at Q Theatre, 27 August 2022. Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Iris Dreaming8 Mar 2020Soprano Joanne Roughton-Arnold joins NZTrio to perform the NZ premiere of Gillian Whitehead and Fleur Adcock's short opera, 'Iris Dreaming', based on the life of Robin Hyde. Video, Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
2022 NZSO Legacy 1 WHITEHEAD retrieving the fragility of peacePerformed by the New Zealand SO conducted by Alexander Shelley at their concert Legacy at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington on 01 October 2022 Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Mōtete16 Jul 2023Performed by the New Zealand Chamber Soloists at their concert, 'Mōtete', Auckland Concert Chamber 16 July 2023. Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Tūmanako2 May 2017'Journey through an Unknown Landscape'. Diedre Irons (piano). Recorded by RNZ Concert, 30 May 2010. Video, Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
GILLIAN WHITEHEAD: still, echoing8 May 2017Performed by pianist Kathryn Stott & New Zealand String Quartet Video, Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Karohirohi9 Oct 2012Carolyn Mills (harp), New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/Alexander Lazarev. Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Te waka ō te rangi26 Nov 2019Performed by NZTrio in the Loft at Q Theatre, 14 July 2019. Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Voices of Tane17 Nov 2017Diedre Irons (piano). Recorded by RNZ Concert, 11 March 1986. Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Windstreams1 Jan 1994Windstreams for solo percussion. Performed by CadeNZa, conducted by Kenneth Young. Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Alice1 Jan 2003An eight movement monodrama for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. Performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra with Helen Medlyn (mezzo) conducted by Miguel Harth Bedoya. Audio This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
- 
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. 
