Stroma conducted by Hamish McKeich. Recorded by RNZ Concert, 10 September 2010.
Chris Gendall Photo: Supplied
Originally from Hamilton, Chris Gendall studied composition at Victoria University of Wellington, before completing a doctoral degree at Cornell University with Roberto Sierra and Steven Stucky. He has participated in a number of festivals and conferences including the Wellesley Composers’ Conference, the Aspen Music Festival, the Britten-Pears Contemporary Composition programme, the Royaumont Voix Nouvelles Composition Course, and the Aldeburgh Festival, bringing him in contact with such figures as Magnus Lindberg, Brian Ferneyhough, Mario Davidovsky, Oliver Knussen, and Anders Hillborg. He has held residencies at Orchestra Wellington and at the New Zealand School of Music, and he was the Mozart Fellow at the University of Otago for 2016 and 2017.
'Wax Lyrical' was commissioned by the Mellon Foundation for the Michigan-based new music ensemble Brave New Works. Its instrumentation was designed to match and augment (with piano) a work by Christopher Rouse, itself a companion piece to Ravel’s 'Introduction and Allegro'. The first performance was given by Brave New Works in April 2008. 'Wax Lyrical' was the winner of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award in 2008.
