All Music

Originally a guitar duet commissioned by Jane Curry with funding from Creative New Zealand, Muisca arranged here for percussion duo consists of three movements: Soledad, Chia, and El Dorado. Drawing inspiration from the rich mythology and history of the Muisca people of Colombia, each movement explores different aspects of their culture, from the mystical initiation rituals of the chieftains in Soledad to the worship of the goddess Chía in Chia, and finally, the legendary tale of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold.

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My Love Awakes, commissioned by violinist Lara St. John, is a transcription and arrangement of a tsamikos dance from Roumeli heard on the Greek Folk Orchestra recording, The Greek Dances of Mainland Greece.

An epic score featuring music from all corners of the globe. Originally created for the 2019 World of WearableArt (WOW) this music includes knockout performances by Malavika GopalSofia LabropoulouKyriakos TapakisHarris Lambrakis Vagelis Karipis. Also, some incredible drum programming from David Downes and mixing by George Kariotis at Sierra Studios in Athens and Graham Kennedy in Wellington. Thanks to Paul McLaney for awesome musical direction throughout the whole journey. I'm very excited to share this, it was an incredible opportunity to 'go large'.

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Commissioned by 2011-2012 New Zealand Secondary Students Choir with funding from Creative New Zealand, Nemesi was premiered The New Zealand Secondary Students Choir (NZSSC) and Andrew Withington (musical director) at the Sacred Heart Cathedral of Wellington, New Zealand on 14 April, 2012.

Nemesi is based on the Greek mythological character Nemesis, the goddess of indignation against, and retribution for, evil deeds and undeserved good fortune. Nemesis' duty is to direct human affairs in such a way as to maintain equilibrium.

This seven-minute work incorporates body percussion within the SATB choir to produce a complex rhythmic blend of voice and body percussive soundworld. Passages of interlocking and layered voices, continuously changing time signatures, along with homophonic writing are offset by the syncopated sounds of body percussion to propel the music forward, producing an innovative and dynamic work.

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Next Planet

for orchestra

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Dedicated to the players of the Tonhalle Düsseldorf and the Düsseldorf Symphony.

Next Planet is the 12^th piece in the“Green Piece” series commissioned and premiered in 2023-2024 by the TonhalleDüsseldorf GmbH and the Düsseldorf Symphony as part of their Green Mondays project. Next Planet was premiered in the
Düsseldorf Tonhalle on Friday 28 June, 2024, when the entire series of twelve works were performed as one mega-symphony. The program was also performed on the 30^th of June and the 1^st of July. The concerts were conducted by Axel Kober.

Part of my brief was also to select the other 11 composers to be commissioned. When combined into a single meta-work(with additional inter-piece transitions I’d also been asked to compose) the programme became:

Somei Satoh(Japan) Circulation(Green Piece No. 3: "Public Transport")

Shiva Feshareki(Iran/UK) Recurring(Green Piece No. 4: "Nutrition")

Aziza Sadikova(Uzbekistan) Heat Efficiency (GreenPiece No. 5: "heat efficiency")

Eve de Castro Robinson (NZ) FuriousBurials (Green Piece No. 2: "energy efficiency")

Gordon Hamilton(Australia) Upcycle(Green Piece No. 1: "Waste and Recycling")

Juhi Bansal(India/Hong Kong) Flash,Shimmer, Glow, Spark (Green Piece No. 8: "Biodiversity")

Kristjan Jarvi(Estonia) OHM– Twilight (Green Piece No. 9: "Energy Generation")

Leila Adu-Gilmore (NZ/Ghana) Agua Es Vida (Green Piece No. 7 on the theme of "Water")

Enrico Chapela(Mexico) Spinphony(Green Piece No. 10: "bicycle travel")

Adeline Wong(Malaysia) Verdure(Green Piece No. 11: "CO2 compensation")

Yuan-Chen Li(Taiwan) Digitally Made Possible (Green Piece No. 6: "Digitalization")

John Psathas(NZ) Next Planet (“Green Piece” No.12)

I was the only composer not presented with a topic. My work was subsequently triggered by the self-aggrandizing heroes who are intent on spending billions in taking a few people to Mars, rather than invest that same money in improving life here on earth – which they could do dramatically, and immediately, for all of humanity, with the staggering wealth they’ve hoarded.

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The No Man’s Land Project is an 80-minute live cinematic concert and a future-length film. It’s a deeply moving multi-media work that spans generations, continents, cultures and beliefs, and reflects on the devastating impact and futility of war. Commissioned from John Psathas and Jasmine Millet, the No Man’s Land Project was premiered as a centrepiece of New Zealand’s First World War commemorations in 2016.

150 musicians descended from opposing forces of the Great War and filmed on significant battlefields around the world are projected alongside a live, seven-piece international ensemble featuring Stratis Psaradelis, Sofia Labropoulou, Caleb Robinson, Vangelis Karipis, Jolanta Kossakowska, Joe Callwood and James Illingworth. The musicians, both live and virtual, perform as one global orchestra to create an exhilarating and deeply moving visual and musical experience.

The No Man’s Land Project is, above all else, an unashamed commitment to optimism; a statement to nations who currently find themselves at war. Even at our worst, humanity and empathy continue to survive.

From the composer - “Why musicians travelling in the footsteps of soldiers 100 years ago? If we could go back in time and say to those on the battlefields “guess what happens here in 100 years” – would they believe us? If we said the same thing to those fighting now, would they believe us? Would we believe ourselves? We now wage war on our own species. But even at our worst, humanity and empathy continue to survive. Our story culminates in acts of kindness: soldiers from opposing sides, ‘enemies’, offering each other water, a cigarette, a shoulder to lean on. Even – incredibly – in what is surely one of the most bizarre and dangerous inventions of the human mind: a place called no man’s land.”

This suite was created from a selection of the music I composed for the 2004 Athens Olympic Ceremonies. It was premiered at the Forbidden City in Beijing in 2008 by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as part of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Cultural Festival.

The suite contained adaptations of Debussy’s King Lear music, Shostakovich’s “Pirogov” film score, and an unused score for the Entrance of the Olympic Flag.  

It was also performed in New Zealand on Sat 4 Apr 2009, 3:00pm–5:00pm at the Michael Fowler Centre in  Wellington

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Commissioned by Concorso Internazionale "2 Agosto" in Bologna, Italy, Omnifenix is a captivating composition that combines directed improvisation on saxophone and drum kit with an orchestra. Originally written for the renowned tenor player Michael Brecker, the piece showcases a unique collaboration where the drum set player acts as a translator, reinforcing the orchestra's foundation while responding to the soloist. Described as a compelling synthesis of jazz and art music, Omnifenix allows the saxophone soloist's individuality to shine, creating a remarkable and harmonious musical experience.

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Arranged here for wind ban by Scott Lubaroff, and originally Commissioned by Concorso Internazionale "2 Agosto" in Bologna, Italy, Omnifenix is a captivating composition that combines directed improvisation on saxophone and drum kit with an orchestra. Originally written for the renowned tenor player Michael Brecker, the piece showcases a unique collaboration where the drum set player acts as a translator, reinforcing the orchestra's foundation while responding to the soloist. Described as a compelling synthesis of jazz and art music, Omnifenix allows the saxophone soloist's individuality to shine, creating a remarkable and harmonious musical experience.

One Study, One Summary (commissioned by Pedro Carneiro with funding from Creative New Zealand) is a virtuosic work for marimba, with optional junk percussion & digital audio, that has become a favourite among solo percussionists. As suggested by the title there are two movements (which can be played in any order). While the piece exhibits the ‘busy’ motoric textures for which I'm known, reflective, atmospheric textures also feature in the Summary movement.

Technical setup; 5-octave marimba (no amplification required), junk percussion (optional, only required for the Etude movement), and audio playback system. The playback track is designed to be played through a stereo-pair of high quality monitors and provides the performer with all necessary information for rhythmic synchronisation. A separate click and in-ear monitoring is not required and not provided (although some performers have created their own click tracks and used in-ear monitoring).

This is the first piece I wrote that involved an audio backing track. It set in motion a entirely new way of writing for me that has generated Ukiyo, Between Zero and One, Songs for Simon, No Man’s Land, Voices at the End, a ‘karaoke’-version of View From Olympus and, more recently, Mentacide.

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Commissioned by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln and Repercussion, Orbital is for Percussion Quartet and Amplified Orchestra with a pre-recorded backing track. When composing aimed to create the sensation of an "orchestra on steroids," where RePercussion exudes vigorous, youthful energy at the forefront of the performance. Inspired by the perspective of observing planet Earth and the celebration of humanity as a whole, Orbital contrasts with my recent works influenced by environmental disasters and negative human behavior. The composition incorporates unique elements, such as playing parts of the orchestral music in reverse and creating a synchronized audio blend of live and reversed recordings. Described as a spectacular and immersive experience, the fusion of thundering samba rhythms, electronic sound art, and massive orchestral sounds transcends conventional categorization. The performance, praised for its energy, intensity, and modern sound art, engulfs the concert hall in a mesmerizing audiovisual spectacle that defies verbal description. With Repercussion's dynamic virtuosity and the seamless collaboration between the quartet and the orchestra, Orbital presents an innovative and unforgettable total work of art that captivates audiences and leaves a lasting impression.

A joint commission from myself and New Zealand poet Robert Sullivan to mark the 50th anniversary of the Orpheus Choir of Wellington resulted in this major oratorio. The subject matter is Captain James Cook’s 1769 voyage to the Southern Hemisphere, ostensibly to view the Transit of Venus but which also resulted in the European discovery of the islands of New Zealand. This voyage, and its resulting historical ramifications, are literally merged with the journey by the mythical figure of Orpheus to the Underworld.The premiere performance took place on November 23, 2002, featuring Jenny Wollerman, Richard Greager, David Griffiths, the Orpheus Choir of Wellington, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Cantrill. The commission for this oratorio was made possible with financial support from Creative New Zealand and the Lion Foundation.

Very little information exists for this piece. It was written for the 20th birthday celebrations for the Composer’s Association of New Zealand (CANZ). An event called ExtravaCANZa. The piece was premiered at Wellington’s town hall by members of Strike and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra during the ExtravaCANZa concert weekend, 4-6 Nov 1994.

The Wellington festival included the open-air concert CANZdemonium, held in Civic Square.

I’ve managed to find a recording of the original MIDI (which was created on very old technology - Studio VIsion sequencer, and Proteus sample player).

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Dance evening by Tarek Assam | Music by John Psathas | Arranged by Herbert Gietzen

Penelope - who is this woman? She is Odysseus' wife. She is the one who waits forever who, even after 20 years, trusts her husband's return. This shadowy woman chose Tarek Assam as the center of his approach to Homer's Odyssey, thus viewing the familiar dispute from an unusual angle. Stage designer Fred Pommerehn and costume designer Gabriele Kortmann design the equipment for the new TCG production.

Once again, music by contemporary composers - performed live under the direction of GMD Michael Hofstetter from the Philharmonic Orchestra - is a partner of a dance evening: the music for PENELOPE WARTET was partly re-composed by New Zealander John Psathas and arranged by Herbert Gietzen, and dramaturgically for in close collaboration with the composer set up the flow of this production. John Psathas is known for his powerful, strongly rhythmic music, in which he skilfully combines jazz, folklore and contemporary symphonic music into an extremely attractive crossover.

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PHARAOH

Concerto for Solo Timpani and Orchestra

Dedicated to Larry Reese and Tomomi Nozaki

Commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (Planet Damnation, 2007)and Orchestra Wellington (Pharaoh and The Great Pageant of Thee and Me, 2023)

1. Pharaoh

2. The Great Pageant of Thee and Me

3. Planet Damnation

Written as part of my Masters portfolio this duet was included in a parcel of music sent by Jack Body to NY-based piano duo “Double Edge” - Ed Niemann and Nurit Tiles (both members of the Steve Reich group). They chose to perform this piece while I was still a student which was an incredible experience for me. I then wrote a follow up piece for them titled Calenture for two pianos and electric guitar. This has never been performed…..

Here is a midi version of Piano Duet (sequenced on an MC-500): it sounds crazy…..

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This arrangement of my Piano Quintet for percussion ensemble and piano is perfect for ensembles who want to perform a contemporary and virtuosic work influenced by Greek folk music. Arranged by Dr. Omar Carmenates, Associate Professor of Percussion at Furman University, USA, it features piano with percussion and mallet quintet playing xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone and two marimbas. The percussion and piano material in Carmenates’ arrangement showcases the skills of the individual performers, with individual lines combined into layers of collective textures throughout the work, making the overall sound of the ensemble evocative and powerful.

In 2002 I was commissioned to write this Piano Quintet for the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, for Dan Poynton and the New Zealand String Quartet.

Every time I write for the violin I get all the repertoire out, scores, recordings, everything…I’m ready to do a whole survey so I can get right into the world of the violin. But I can never get past the unaccompanied works by Bach. Just because I get so fixated on the pieces…and it’s the same with the cello suites. So the first movement actually comes out of the great Chaconne in D minor. And I’m obsessed with the whole of it, the beauty of it. Then I also had a concept of going against the expected. The idea was that the piano is often doing all the drive and harmonic work and the strings get all the beautiful and lyrical stuff. So I gave the piano a kind of rhythmic looseness over a minimalist grid. The piano has this very rhapsodic feeling to it, explosive as well, while unfortunately the strings get a bit of a workout at the gym.

The second movement contains one of the most conceptually specific things I’ve ever done with a piece of music. I transcribed a piece of improvisation by the Greek violinist Stathis Koukoularis, who is one of the top violinists in Greek folk music. If you listen to this movement what’s really happening is that this very beautiful emotive evocation of Greek transcription is placed in the world of avant guard contemporary Western Art music. There are these two things going on in this movement. And for me the movement is a big question, can these two things coexist? And if you bring them together, how does it feel? If you follow it through to the end, where the piano just sits on those chords and there’s just this space, it’s a statement of resignation. I didn’t believe I could find a way of integrating these things. So the avant guard modernist thing had run it’s course, and you are left with a very melancholic nostalgia.

The third movement is a philosophical coda to the rest of the piece, especially the second. You have these arpeggios in the piano, and they start quite dissonant, from the bottom to the top, but the just the top keeps going over and over again, so you start with dissonance but then just through sustaining it becomes consonance…I guess it could be symbolic of many things…a kind of ‘let the world live at peace” idea. I wrote this movement about the time our daughter was born. And it was that kind of beautiful child thing about it. The future is a bright orb of optimism. It really was something that came from the middle of my life experience at the time.  Also some moments of inspiration coming from Ravel’s string and piano sonorities and as I remember, I was listening to a lot of Arvo Part, and it’s like a million miles from Part’s energy, but it was kind of influenced by his emotional aesthetic a bit…the purity of mode and everything around it staying the same.

As a musician you come across music all the time that you fall madly in love with and effects you in such a profound way. In Western art music you can find scores because of its notated tradition. But if you go to other kinds of music, from Eastern Europe and the Middle East, you can’t find those resources. So the only way you can understand what’s going on is by transcribing music out. and then by studying them truly, intensely. And it gives you a sense of the very elastic melodic writing, embellishment of the melodic writing and rhythmic variation that is at its heart.  It’s always about variation and colour, and the palette, like what is your palette of timbral colour or your palette of embellishment around a musical gesture.  The thing about all that transcription, and the stuff I do now, is what it does to your ears. Your ability to hear what’s going on, like tuning, tempo fluctuations, ornaments, rhythmic precision and elasticity… all those sorts of things.  One  really develop an ear for that stuff.

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Commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Planet Damnation showcases the timpani and the virtuosic skills of Laurence Reese, in a solo role. Inspired by the timpani's dual nature of percussive power and melodic expressiveness, I aimed to create a piece that allowed the timpani to sing in its unique way, featuring passages where the instrument finds its melodic voice. Drawing influences from martial music and action movie soundtracks, the composition exudes a sense of intensity and overwhelming power, reflecting the challenge and dynamism of the timpani as a solo instrument. The premiere of Planet Damnation took place on October 19, 2007, at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington, New Zealand, with Laurence Reese performing alongside the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

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Originally commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as a Timpani concerto, Planet Damnation is arranged here for solo timpani and digital audio. Inspired by the timpani's dual nature of percussive power and melodic expressiveness, I aimed to create a piece that allowed the timpani to sing in its unique way, featuring passages where the instrument finds its melodic voice. Drawing influences from martial music and action movie soundtracks, the composition exudes a sense of intensity and overwhelming power, reflecting the challenge and dynamism of the timpani as a solo instrument

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Originally commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as a Timpani concerto, Planet Damnation is arranged here for solo timpani and percussion ensemble by Omar Carmenates. Inspired by the timpani's dual nature of percussive power and melodic expressiveness, I aimed to create a piece that allowed the timpani to sing in its unique way, featuring passages where the instrument finds its melodic voice. Drawing influences from martial music and action movie soundtracks, the composition exudes a sense of intensity and overwhelming power, reflecting the challenge and dynamism of the timpani as a solo instrument. Four marimba and three vibraphones articulate the rhythmic complexity that propels the work forward, employing exciting interlocking rhythms and insistent pulses. Elsewhere, bowed keys and tension-inducing rolls provide a baleful backdrop for the timpanist’s statements. A full complement of auxiliary percussion is also on hand; ominous rototom and bass drum material supports the timpani’s pounding rhythms, while the use of piccolo and concert snare drums retain the subtle references to martial music found in the work’s original version.

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Originally commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as a Timpani concerto, Planet Damnation is arranged here for solo timpani and wind band by Jim Daughters. Inspired by the timpani's dual nature of percussive power and melodic expressiveness, I aimed to create a piece that allowed the timpani to sing in its unique way, featuring passages where the instrument finds its melodic voice. Drawing influences from martial music and action movie soundtracks, the composition exudes a sense of intensity and overwhelming power, reflecting the challenge and dynamism of the timpani as a solo instrument.

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Commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra during my tenure as the APO's Composer-in-Residence, with funding from Creative New Zealand in collaboration with Warren Maxwell (vocals/guitar/bass guitar).

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Commissioned by the NZ International Festival of the Arts and the OrchestrUtopica of Portugal, with financial assistance from Creative New Zealand and the Hattori Foundation, Psyzygysm is a chamber concerto that premiered on March 14, 2002, in Wellington, New Zealand. The title, roughly meaning "conjunction," reflects the essence of the composition, which unites an eclectic ensemble in support of the mallet percussion soloist, Pedro Carneiro. Drawing inspiration from jazz and traditional music,  these influences are blended into a dynamic and exhilarating rush of sound. The piano, double bass, and drum kit form a tight rhythm section reminiscent of a jazz combo, while the winds and string quartet introduce wailing, Middle-Eastern-inspired melodies. The percussion quartet serves as both a musical and visual focal point, effectively intertwining all the elements of the composition into a cohesive whole. Under the baton of conductor Hamish McKeich, the premiere of "Psyzygysm" showcased the virtuosity of Pedro Carneiro alongside the striking performances of Strike, Stroma, and the orchestral ensemble.

There is very little remaining information about this piece. It was my first NZSO commission. Premiered in 1998 at the MFC in Wellington and dedicated to my family: Carla, Emmanuel, Anastasia and Tania. It was then performed once more in Austria at the Klangspuren Festival in 2001. I flew to Austria with my son Emanuel (who was 5 at the time). On our return journey we  were in a hotel room in transit in Singapore watching the attack on the twin towers in New York in real time……

A solo percussion and digital audio work commissioned by commissioned by: Fabian Ziegler, Switzerland - Alex Georgiev, Austria - Adelaide Férrière, France - Omar Carmenates, USA - Zhengdao Lu, China - Sam Um, USA Pei Ching Wu, Taiwan - James Larter, UK - Vassilena Serafimova, Bulgaria - Gaku Ueno, Japan - Edoardo Giachino, Italy

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BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM 2000

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Available to DOWNLOAD or as a PRINT-ON-DEMAND CD

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Rhythm Spike was the debut release of New Zealand's most internationally renowned composer, John Psathas.

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John’s music draws equally on classical, jazz, and rock traditions and is performed by artists from a variety of disciplines, from jazz (Michael Brecker) to contemporary classical (Evelyn Glennie). His most prestigious achievement to date was to compose the music for the opening the 2004 Olympic Games.

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Rhythm Spike is an album of rhythmic intensity and poetic introspection, performed by a stellar lineup of NZ and US musicians including the New Zealand String Quartet, Michael Houstoun (piano), Deidre Irons (piano), Dan Poynton (piano), David Downes (guitar), Neil Becker (guitar), and New Juilliard Ensemble members Brian Resnick (drums, percussion, mallets), Stephen Gosling (piano), and David Arend (bass).

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This piano solo was commissioned by the NZ Arts Festival in 1994. It was premiered by Peter Jablonski, but no recording exists. It was subsequently performed by Dan Poynton. I have no score or recording of this piece. Deemed as close to impossible as one can get.

It was resurrected as a duo for mallet percussion and piano, with the new title of “Spike”…..

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I orchestrated three works for Russel’s performance with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

1 Conception

2 Her Waters

3 Phenomenon

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My first work for brass band, Saxon was commissioned by the New Zealand Brass Bands Association as the A-Grade test piece for the Shell Millennium International Bands Festival.

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Commissioned by ECAT with financial support from Creative New Zealand, this work is inspired by one of the few remnants of ancient Greek music, a short song by the composer Seikilos from the second or first century BC beginning with the words Hoson zes (given here in a contemporary translation):

While you’re alive, shine, man,
Don’t be the least bit blue.
Life’s for a little span;
Time demands its due.

It is engraved on a tombstone as an epitaph by Seikilos for his wife. While writing this piece I found myself contemplating the implications of the occasion it had been commissioned to mark. My own biculturalism and sense of geographical dislocation has resulted in a lifelong fascination with the endless motion of restless people throughout history. As both an insider and outsider I have been shaped as a composer and as a person by what I perceive as the greatest lesson to be learned from my Greek heritage: live while you can.

The work is dedicated to my mother and father, Emmanuel and Anastasia Psathas.

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This is a merging of the opening track Shiva Sleeps and the closing track Waking Brahma from the full-length percussion show "Between Zero and One" premiered by Strike Percussion in 2013.

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Listen to the single on Spotify

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I wrote the percussion parts and Jack Hooker created the epic electronica layers. We had discussed on and off the idea of creating a single track that fused these two pieces together - Shiva designed to be an opening to the show and Brahma very much designed to end it. Those kinds of conversations are easy to have, but invariably open up a can of worms. Jack dived all the way back into the electronic layers and rebuilt them, making them even more massive and (within that extraordinary decibel level) managing to refine and clarify the wall of sound.

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We decided to make this available to live performance groups and it has subsequently been picked up and played live (as a percussion ensemble + pre-recorded backing track). This is now a product on the store page of this website Shiva Brahma Live Performance Materials

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Omar Carmenates and the Furman University Percussion Ensemble have since made a film of their performance

An earlier iteration of this piece (named Shiva Sleeps) was performed and filmed by the Macau Percussion Association

One word: Madness

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Commissioned byJames Wallace Arts Trust for Stephen De Pledge (pf), for his programme Landscape Preludes, 2008 New Zealand International Arts Festival, Sleeper is a short and ebullient work built on minimalist techniques. The opening measures contain a two-note ostinato pattern that forms a static harmonic base from which the work unfolds. A sense of momentum and subsequent departure emerges from the ‘voice-like’ notes, which gracefully evolve into scalic melodies, steering the dynamic and registral development of the piece, and generating a pulse. Lyrical, child-like melodic gestures evoke a sense of exploration and discovery.

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Commissioned for Simon Tadeschi by Jack Richards for the SOUNZtender Project, Songs for Simon is a work for solo piano and digital audio.  Donald Nicolson (pf) premiered the piece for SOUNZtender Concert at the Ilott Theatre, Wellington Town Hall, Wellington, New Zealand on May 30th 2010.

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For many years David Downes and I have collaborated on a range of musical projects. During our time as students we created and recorded a number of songs, the best of which are here. We even made a video for one and it was aired on Radio with Pictures.

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Set List:

1. Full of Sympathy
2. Silent Partner
3. Law of Gravity
4. We Lie Here
5. This Rhythm
6. Insight

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Sphinx

for solo timpani and pre-recorded audio

Commissioned by, and dedicated to Tomomi Nozaki

1. Sandstorm
2. Giza Sunrise
3. The Empty Box4. Dynasty
5. Fury

duration: 13 mins

Taking as its starting point the most primitive of musical ideas, the repetition of a single note, Spike moves through many environments, rising and falling in waves of intensity — some ecstatic, some dark, some effervescent — all the while maintaining this primary impulse, tapping out a one-note rhythm. Spike was premiered by Brian Resnick (perc) and Stephen Gosling (pf), at the Juilliard School, New York, NY, on 21 February 1999.

Orchestrations of “Stars” and “Eternal” for Shapeshifter’s concerto with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in March 2019. Find more information about the event here.

A commission instigated by Joel Sachs and premiered by the New Juilliard Ensemble,  Stream 3 is a homage to Gunther Schuller's ''Third Stream'' music, in which jazz and classical modernism mingle.

An adaptation of the chamber orchestra work Stream 3, this version assigns most of the orchestral parts to an electronically realized backing track, and leaves the foreground to a combo comprising percussion, electric guitar, piano, double bass and drum kit. There is a considerable degree of flexibilty in options for performing the work – alternative tape parts are provided so that the other live instrumental combinations may be used such as percussion only, percussion and guitar, percussion, guitar and bass, and percussion, guitar, bass and piano.

My one and only electracoustic piece. Created during my Master’s studies at Victoria University.

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I composed this music for the inaugural ceremony of Auckland as a Super-City in 2010.

Both titles "Fanfare for a Super City" and "Super City Fanfare" have been used.

Tarantism is allegedly a deadly envenomation attributed to the bite of a kind of wolf spider called a tarantula, which is found near the seaport of Taranto in southern Italy. Historically, tarantism,is referred to as a psychological illness characterised by a “dancing mania”, prevalent in southern Italy from the 15th to the 17th century, and this is what the title refers to.  

There were strong suggestions that there is no organic cause for the heightened excitability and restlessness that gripped the victims. The stated belief of the time was that victims needed to engage in frenzied dancing to prevent death from tarantism. As a result from this therapy, tarantella, a rapid, whirling dance evolved. Many people have suggested that the whole business was a deceit to evade religious proscriptions against dancing.

Tarantismo is based on the same legend that created the tarantella, the idea of dancing faster and faster to get the poison of the tarantula spider out of your system. My theory is that, back then, perhaps one pretended to have been bitten by a spider to give you an excuse for dancing, whirling faster and faster, and ever more frenzied, towards an ecstatic release.  

For me, the whole idea of ecstatic release describes the intense effort of trying to launch something off the stage and into the audience, to make that electric point of connection. Other people can do that in a very calm, quiet and profound way, but with me it's delirious, ecstatic and – when it works – irresistible.

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Very little remains of this work. I have the original midi recording and a live performance recording by 175 East  (who commissioned the work). For Cello, Bass, Percussion, Trombone, Clarinet and Bass Clarinet.

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The Double Percussion Concerto, titled The All-Seeing Sky, was written for and dedicated to percussionists Fabian Ziegler and Luca Staffelbach. The concerto was commissioned by Orchestra Wellington and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in New Zealand, as well as the City Light Symphony Orchestra in Lucerne, Switzerland. In contrast to the grandiose fireworks-driven percussion concertos of recent times, I intentionally scored this work for a Mozart-sized orchestra, emphasizing a more intimate approach. The solo parts are limited to the marimba (soloist 1) and vibraphone (soloist 2).

Consisting of three movements, the concerto takes inspiration from various interconnected concepts. The phrase "The All-Seeing Sky" alludes to both the pervasive surveillance of the modern era and the notion of God as an omnipresent entity documented throughout history. The first two movements draw inspiration from Gustave Doré's captivating illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy. "The Portals of Dis" evokes the inner realization of being ferried across the river Styx, arriving at the gates of Dis with a grand fanfare. The musical language of this movement carries echoes of antiquity, particularly ancient Greece. Having traversed the levels of hell, as depicted in Dante's Inferno, the travelers find the hidden road leading back to "The Upper World," symbolizing our bright and familiar reality. However, the unsettled ending of this movement suggests that our present world bears a resemblance to the imagined hell.

The role of the two soloists in the concerto is fluid and versatile. They alternate between virtuosic unison passages and treating their instruments as a unified "meta-instrument." They act as driving forces at times, equal partners with the orchestra at others, and even assume a background role of accompanying the orchestra, providing a warm and loving minimalist underpinning in the final moments of the second movement.

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The Deep Ride let visitors journey 2,000 metres below the ocean’s surface aboard a submarine simulator.

OurSpace | Tō Tātou Ātea

Dates: 8 Nov 2008 – 6 Jul 2014
Cost: Free entry

OurSpace | Tō Tātou Ātea allowed visitors to create their own vision of New Zealand on The Wall, a state-of-the-art interactive canvas where users could mix it, own it, share it. This experiment in public curation led to interesting and sometimes surprising displays.

The exhibition also gave visitors the opportunity to explore New Zealand’s culture and geography through an interactive glass floor map and The High Ride, the wildest aerial tour ever. The Deep Ride let visitors journey 2,000 metres below the ocean’s surface aboard a submarine simulator.

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Fanfare for Brass and Percussion

Available to DOWNLOAD or as a PRINT-ON-DEMAND CD

The music on THE GAIA THEORY brims with vitality and optimism, beautifully composed tapestries of sonic and textural colours that have been recorded and produced with great precision and taste, and performed with enormous skill, dexterity and enthusiasm.Every piece is a gem, from the cross-cultural connections in the music of John Psathas (whose exquisite Waiting:Still is here presented in two stunning arrangements), to the unique use of found objects in Christopher Deane’s excellent The Scavenger’s Footprints. Setting the tone for the album, Scott Lindroth’s sublime Bell Plates seamlessly (and quite marvellously) integrates electronics into the mix, a gorgeous, very appealing work from a highly accomplished composer.

Performed by Omar Carmenates with:
Justin Alexander (track 2)
Brian Nozny (tracks 2, 7)
Luis Rivera (tracks 2, 3, 4, 8)
Matthew Filosa (tracks 3)
Sidonie Wade (tracks 2)
Tommy Dobbs (tracks 3)
Melinda Leoce Wade (tracks 4, 7, 8)

Produced and recorded by John W. Parks IV at the Florida State University Percussion Studio, assisted by Justin Alexander, Matthew Filosa & Brian Nozny
Editing and mixing by John W. Parks IV, Omar Carmenates, Justin Alexander, & Brian Nozny
Mastered by Steve Garden at Garden Shed, Auckland, NZ
Design by UnkleFranc
Printed by Studio Q

This recording was made possible with generous support from the David E. Shi Center for Sustainability, and a Research and Professional Growth Grant from Furman University

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The High Ride, the wildest aerial tour ever.

OurSpace | Tō Tātou Ātea

Dates: 8 Nov 2008 – 6 Jul 2014
Cost: Free entry

OurSpace | Tō Tātou Ātea allowed visitors to create their own vision of New Zealand on The Wall, a state-of-the-art interactive canvas where users could mix it, own it, share it. This experiment in public curation led to interesting and sometimes surprising displays.

The exhibition also gave visitors the opportunity to explore New Zealand’s culture and geography through an interactive glass floor map and The High Ride, the wildest aerial tour ever. The Deep Ride let visitors journey 2,000 metres below the ocean’s surface aboard a submarine simulator.

David Downes

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The idea for THE JOHN PSATHAS PERCUSSION PROJECT: VOLUME ONE began in 2013 with John Psathas’ piano and gamelan piece Waiting: Still which Omar Carmenates arranged for percussion trio. While unknown at the time, this arrangement launched a five-year-long relationship that culminates in Carmenates’ debut for PARMA Recordings. For THE JOHN PSATHAS PERCUSSION PROJECT: VOLUME ONE, Carmenates acts as arranger, director, and performer, and is joined by a roster of talented musicians including pianist Daniel Koppelman and drum set soloist Justin Alexander.

The works on THE JOHN PSATHAS PERCUSSION PROJECT: VOLUME ONE draw inspiration from a wide range of sources. Corybas was built around a particular dance groove found in Macedonia, and Piano Quintet is reflective of the work of composers ranging from Arvo Pärt to Johann Sebastian Bach. Drum Dances is heavily influenced by the drumming style of Dave Weckl, while the virtuoso keyboard duo Jettatura is inspired by an incredibly unlucky trip by the composer to his homeland of Greece.

The works of Greek composer John Psathas emerge from a truly dazzling 21st-century backdrop, where dynamic collaboration with creative masters from all corners of the physical and artistic globe result in outcomes that are visionary, moving, and inspired. Brought to life by Carmenates’ efforts, Psathas’ compositions invite listeners on an aural journey into his musical and ethnic history.

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The New Zeibekiko is an intoxicating journey through 2,500 years of Hellenic musical history, from the temples of ancient Delphi to the exhilarating heart of 21st century Athens and the Greek islands. Sacred, profane and thrilling, this is a powerful musical odyssey, bringing together living practitioners of mystical, musical arts with the rich vibrancy of today’s symphony orchestra. Manos Achalinotopoulos and Petros Kourtis are custodians of ancient musical traditions. They are master musicians, deep, soulful, and electrifying.

Commissioned by violinist Lara St. John, The Pain Will Find Us is a transcription and arrangement of a Greek folk tune from the Vasilis Paiteris recording Song of Greece's Gypsies. St. John sent Psathas a selection of folk tunes from which to choose and base two new works on. I chose o ilios (the sun), a tsamikos dance from Roumeli (the colloquial name for the central region of Greece), and dui dui (two two), which I renamed My Love Awakes and The Pain Will Find Us, respectively.

This work was commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the instigation of Michael Houstoun (to whom it is dedicated). Michael’s playing inspired me throughout its composition, and his enthusiasm for the work as it grew boosted the confidence that can be sensed in the music.

The opening of Aria introduces a simple kind of melodic motion which evolves throughout the concerto. It is this simple idea which ‘tells the story’ of the concerto. In the first movement there is a tendency for the melody to fall by step; in the second movement it vacillates, is often uncertain and sometimes even becomes lost. By the third movement, all of the motion is upward by step, eventually ecstatically so.

Inferno was inspired by the haunting and deeply disturbing images in in James Nachtwey’s photographic elegy, Inferno. Nachtwey travels to the world’s most troubled places, looks at the grimmest sights to be seen there and photgraphs them in such a way as to thrust them into the view of the world. It seems impossible to go through Nachtwey’s book in one sitting – to do so gives the feeling that one’s own soul is irretrievably dissipating. Musically, energy is constantly atrophying in this movement, yielding to despair. It requires the positive energy of the entire final movement to pull one out of the pit.

As the finale to the work, Sergei: Book 3, Chapter 1, evolves, it becomes a celebration of one of the most ebullient passages in piano concerto literature; the initial allegro passage in the first movement of Prokofiev’s third concerto. This material has inspired me for the entire course of my musical life to date, and I have always wished that it lasted longer and went further. As I composed the final movement of my concerto, there developed an irresistable gravity which drew together the energy in Prokofiev’s concerto and that in my own.

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Originally written for solo piano and orchestra, this work was commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the instigation of Michael Houstoun (to whom it is dedicated). Michael’s playing inspired me throughout its composition, and his enthusiasm for the work as it grew boosted the confidence that can be sensed in the music.

This version for piano and Percussion Ensemble was arranged and orchestrated by Omar Carmenates.

The opening of Aria introduces a simple kind of melodic motion which evolves throughout the concerto. It is this simple idea which ‘tells the story’ of the concerto. In the first movement there is a tendency for the melody to fall by step; in the second movement it vacillates, is often uncertain and sometimes even becomes lost. By the third movement, all of the motion is upward by step, eventually ecstatically so.

Inferno was inspired by the haunting and deeply disturbing images in in James Nachtwey’s photographic elegy, Inferno. Nachtwey travels to the world’s most troubled places, looks at the grimmest sights to be seen there and photgraphs them in such a way as to thrust them into the view of the world. It seems impossible to go through Nachtwey’s book in one sitting – to do so gives the feeling that one’s own soul is irretrievably dissipating. Musically, energy is constantly atrophying in this movement, yielding to despair. It requires the positive energy of the entire final movement to pull one out of the pit.

As the finale to the work, Sergei: Book 3, Chapter 1, evolves, it becomes a celebration of one of the most ebullient passages in piano concerto literature; the initial allegro passage in the first movement of Prokofiev’s third concerto. This material has inspired me for the entire course of my musical life to date, and I have always wished that it lasted longer and went further. As I composed the final movement of my concerto, there developed an irresistable gravity which drew together the energy in Prokofiev’s concerto and that in my own.

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Two tracks written for the Midi Fusion Band during the time of the VUW and Massey University’s music school merger.

Performers;

Colin Hemmngsen - Saxes and EWI

Leigh Jackson - Guitar and MIDI Guitar

Nick Tipping - Bass

Lance Philip - Drumset

James Illingworth - Keyboards

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BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM finalist 2010

Ukiyo features Portuguese percussionist Pedro Carneiro performing some of John Psathas's most challenging and exciting work to date.

Ukiyo is the fourth Rattle release by one of New Zealand’s most accomplished and highly regarded composers, John Psathas.

This album may appear to be something of a departure for a composer renowned for his visceral orchestral work, but the mix of sampled and midi-based timbres bring vivid colour and resonance to these intricate and exacting pieces.

Featuring Pedro Carneiro, Jeremy Fitzsimons, Tim Prebble, and Stroma conducted by Hamish McKeichProduced by John PsathasEngineered by Steve GardenEdited and mixed by Steve Garden and John Psathas

All music published by Promethean Editions

Design by UnkleFranc

"Ukiyo" was commissioned by percussionist Jeremy Fitzsimons, with financial support from Creative New Zealand and Chamber Music New Zealand. The piece incorporates the use of two CD players, which the performers operate and synchronize with the music at specific moments, adding an engaging interactive element to the composition.

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This seminal work from John Psathas remains one of Rattle’s most highly-regarded releases.Hailed as New Zealand’s most ambitious orchestral recording,

View From Olympus features inspired and uplifting performances from its principal soloists. Acclaimed as the composer of the ceremonial music for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, John is thrilled that this recording has been completed. “For me, this is bigger than anything I’ve done – bigger than the Olympics,” he says. “These are my strongest works – my biggest statements and now they exist in the world.”

This is the original ‘karaoke’ version of View From Olympus. The two soloist parts are identical to the orchestral version, but in place of a live orchestra there is a MIDI backing track for all three movements.

Steeped in Greek mythology and folk music this high energy double concerto for percussion, piano and orchestra is now presented in this new performance edition. Following a request from the commissioner, Dame Evelyn Glennie, a MIDI realisation of the orchestral parts of View From Olympus was created to enable performance by two musicians with audio playback. A digital download also contains various mixes for rehearsal purposes; an invaluable resource for those wishing to perform this concerto.

Commissioned by percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, View From Olympus has become one of my landmark works. This double concerto takes listeners on a journey through the world of Greek percussion styles and playing techniques.The first movement features an adapted transcription of improvised Greek violin music (by Stathis Koukoularis), the second movement is a tribute to my two children, and the third movement is a wild depiction of the legendary Mænads celebrating their god Dionysos with song, music and dance.

The world premiere of this version was given by Dame Evelyn Glennie (perc), and Philip Smith (piano), at Cadogan Hall in London during the 2015 BBC Proms. MIDI programming of Digital Orchestra by David Downes (funded by Creative New Zealand)

The Furies were avenging spirits of retributive justice whose task was to punish crimes outside the reach of human justice. Their names were Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. This movement contains an adapted transcription of a fragment of improvised playing by one of my favourite Greek violinists, Stathis Koukoularis (it appears as a solo for violin about two minutes into the movement).

To Yelasto Paithi (The Smiling Child) is the closest I’ve come to expressing — in a way not possible with the spoken or written word — the feelings inspired by my precious children, Emanuel and Zoe. In this movement is also caught the summer I spent working on the concerto at my parents’ house just outside the village of Nea Michaniona – a house perched on a cliff which looks down on the Aegean and up to Mount Olympus

Draped in the skins of fawns, crowned with wreaths of ivy and carrying the thyrsos — a staff wound round with ivy leaves and topped with a pine cone — the Maenads roamed the mountains and woods, seeking to assimilate the potency of the beasts that dwelled there and celebrating their god Dionysos with song, music and dance. The human spirit demands Dionysiac ecstasy; to those who accept it, the experience offers spiritual power. For those who repress the natural force within themselves, or refuse it to others, it is transformed into destruction, both of the innocent and the guilty. When possessed by Dionysos, the Maenads became savage and brutal. They plunged into a frenzied dance, obtaining an intoxicating high and a mystical ecstasy that gave them unknown powers, making them the match of the bravest hero.

Forming an optional encore to the concerto is Fragment (percussion version), for vibraphone and piano.

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Commissioned by percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, View From Olympus has become one of my landmark works. This double concerto takes listeners on a journey through the world of Greek percussion styles and playing techniques. The first movement features an adapted transcription of improvised Greek violin music (by Stathis Koukoularis), the second movement is a tribute to my two children, and the third movement is a wild depiction of the legendary Mænads celebrating their god Dionysos with song, music and dance.

The world premiere was given by Dame Evelyn Glennie (perc), Philip Smith (piano), and the Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder, Manchester, UK, 26 July 2002.

Commissioner - Evelyn Glennie (with funding from Victoria University of Wellington)

I. The Furies

II. To Yelasto Paithi

III. Dance of the Mænads

IV. Fragment (encore for 2 soloists)

The Furies were avenging spirits of retributive justice whose task was to punish crimes outside the reach of human justice. Their names were Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. This movement contains an adapted transcription of a fragment of improvised playing by one of my favourite Greek violinists, Stathis Koukoularis (it appears as a solo for violin about two minutes into the movement).

To Yelasto Paithi (The Smiling Child) is the closest I’ve come to expressing — in a way not possible with the spoken or written word — the feelings inspired by my precious children, Emanuel and Zoe. In this movement is also caught the summer I spent working on the concerto at my parents’ house just outside the village of Nea Michaniona – a house perched on a cliff which looks down on the Aegean and up to Mount Olympus.

Draped in the skins of fawns, crowned with wreaths of ivy and carrying the thyrsos — a staff wound round with ivy leaves and topped with a pine cone — the Maenads roamed the mountains and woods, seeking to assimilate the potency of the beasts that dwelled there and celebrating their god Dionysos with song, music and dance. The human spirit demands Dionysiac ecstasy; to those who accept it, the experience offers spiritual power. For those who repress the natural force within themselves, or refuse it to others, it is transformed into destruction, both of the innocent and the guilty. When possessed by Dionysos, the Maenads became savage and brutal. They plunged into a frenzied dance, obtaining an intoxicating high and a mystical ecstasy that gave them unknown powers, making them the match of the bravest hero.

Forming an optional encore to the concerto is Fragment (percussion version), for vibraphone and piano, for vibraphone and piano.

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This is an updated recital version with a totally new backing track featuring synths, sub-bass, guitars, etc. Commissioned by Fabian Ziegler. The two soloist parts are identical to the orchestral version, but in place of a live orchestra there is a MIDI backing track for all three movements.

Steeped in Greek mythology and folk music this high energy double concerto for percussion, piano and orchestra is now presented in this new performance edition. Following a request from the commissioner, Dame Evelyn Glennie, a MIDI realisation of the orchestral parts of View From Olympus was created to enable performance by two musicians with audio playback. A digital download also contains various mixes for rehearsal purposes; an invaluable resource for those wishing to perform this concerto.

Commissioned by percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, View From Olympus has become one of my landmark works. This double concerto takes listeners on a journey through the world of Greek percussion styles and playing techniques.The first movement features an adapted transcription of improvised Greek violin music (by Stathis Koukoularis), the second movement is a tribute to my two children, and the third movement is a wild depiction of the legendary Mænads celebrating their god Dionysos with song, music and dance.

The world premiere of this version was given by Dame Evelyn Glennie (perc), and Philip Smith (piano), at Cadogan Hall in London during the 2015 BBC Proms. MIDI programming of Digital Orchestra by David Downes (funded by Creative New Zealand)

The Furies were avenging spirits of retributive justice whose task was to punish crimes outside the reach of human justice. Their names were Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. This movement contains an adapted transcription of a fragment of improvised playing by one of my favourite Greek violinists, Stathis Koukoularis (it appears as a solo for violin about two minutes into the movement).

To Yelasto Paithi (The Smiling Child) is the closest I’ve come to expressing — in a way not possible with the spoken or written word — the feelings inspired by my precious children, Emanuel and Zoe. In this movement is also caught the summer I spent working on the concerto at my parents’ house just outside the village of Nea Michaniona – a house perched on a cliff which looks down on the Aegean and up to Mount Olympus

Draped in the skins of fawns, crowned with wreaths of ivy and carrying the thyrsos — a staff wound round with ivy leaves and topped with a pine cone — the Maenads roamed the mountains and woods, seeking to assimilate the potency of the beasts that dwelled there and celebrating their god Dionysos with song, music and dance. The human spirit demands Dionysiac ecstasy; to those who accept it, the experience offers spiritual power. For those who repress the natural force within themselves, or refuse it to others, it is transformed into destruction, both of the innocent and the guilty. When possessed by Dionysos, the Maenads became savage and brutal. They plunged into a frenzied dance, obtaining an intoxicating high and a mystical ecstasy that gave them unknown powers, making them the match of the bravest hero.

Forming an optional encore to the concerto is Fragment (percussion version), for vibraphone and piano.

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Voices at the End was originally inspired by the film Planetary.  In this film, author and environmental activist Joanna Macy suggested there are three stories that we have to choose from, to make sense of our lives now, to make sense of our world. The first story that we could see and accept as reality is Business as Usual. All we need to do is keep growing our economy. We could call that the industrial growth society.

But there's a second story which is seen and accepted as the reality by the scientists and the activists. These are the people who lift back the carpet and look under the rug of Business as Usual and see what it's costing us. And it's costing us the world. We call that story The Great Unravelling. Unravelling is what biological and ecological and organic systems do as diversity is lost.  They shred.

That's not the end of the story though, because there's a third narrative, another lens through which we can choose to see. And that is that a revolution is taking place. A transition. From the industrial growth society to a life sustaining society. And it's taking many forms, this third story, The Great Turning. It's our story of survival and it’s got huge evolutionary pressures behind it. After all, the story of evolution is everybody's autobiography.

These three stories - Business as Usual, The Great Unravelling, and The Great Turning, form the three parts of Voices at the End.

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Voices at the End is John’s big statement about the state, and the future, of civilization. It pulls together concepts and commentary from extraordinary poets, writers, and thinkers; and projects these - as a kind of constantly unfolding haiku - alongside original film content, to an audience in the constant throes of an exhilarating, highly-emotionalised live musical performance.

Voices at the End is 75-minutes long and consists of two works; Voices at the End, and Second-Hand Time. Throughout the show, video and an epic audio sound world create an immersive environment for a virtuosic performance by UK pianist Dawn Hardwick. There is something about bringing these elements together in this way that creates a deep and powerful impression on audiences. The musical language of Voices at the End and Second-Hand Time sits equally well in a festival populated by DJs as it does in a more traditional festival context.

This is a narrative-disrupting, intensely-moving challenge to the status quo, that is as confronting as it is exhilarating and inspiring. The work delivers precisely integrated social commentary on crucial issues like runaway economic models, their impact on society, threats to education, climate, current life and culture, and the future prospects of the human race.

We have intentionally kept presentation options flexible and made the show scalable. Indoors and outdoors are both possible. The show works equally well in a standard concert hall, in intimate and unusual locations, and on the largest-scale (projection onto buildings).

Download the show’s EPK and Tech Rider for further information. The Tech Rider provides information for one example presentation, but many more are possible, simply requiring discussion and collaboration to work through specific requirements.

Voices at the End will be available for touring in the 2025-2027 seasons. If you would like to discuss or require more information for your consideration please contact: John Psathas (Producer | Composer | Operator) at john@jpsathas.com or +64210659845

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Watch the Trailer

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Quote from the Composer

“What could possibly matter more right now than course-correcting the trajectory of our planets’ civilization?  Humanity is in desperate need of difficult conversations, open minds, and the igniting of wide-scale empathy. Voices at the End brings together some of the greatest living minds engaged in offering better narratives about the future. Combining these narratives with dynamic musical performance and film creates an experience that is as intensely confronting as it is exhilarating and inspiring.” John Psathas

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Programme Note

The show consists of two audio-visual works;

Voices at the End (40m) - Inspired by the film Planetary and by environmental activist Joanna Macy

Second- Hand Time (25m) - Inspired by and integrating the words of Adam Curtis, Henry A. Giroux, Brad Evans, Svetlana Alexievich, and Noam Chomsky.

This show explores a new format by combining the emotional power and excitement of virtuosic musical performance with a pre-recorded cinematic audio soundtrack (drawn from real and electronic worlds) and integrating these with synchronised projected text that delivers precisely-timed social commentary on current and crucial issues, such as runaway economic models and their impact on society, education, climate change, the threats to current life and culture, and the future prospects of the human race.

Waiting for the Aeroplane captures a time when I was travelling to Greece to visit my family, who had recently returned there from New Zealand to live. The emotion of farewells, the sense of the distance between the two countries and the power of aircraft, and the frenetic activity of airports all found their way into the piece

The piece was my response to the emotional experience of contemporary air travel: long periods spent passing the time in a kind of awkward limbo, concluded by abrupt partings with loved ones. The alternating two-note ostinato which opens the work, and remains present throughout, evokes the sense of anticipation, while the interjections of melodic fragments above this ostinato are like the fleeting, distracted thoughts and conversations occupying the individual obliged to wait at the behest of influences outside his or her control. Intense jazz-influenced flourishes bring a brief rush of energy, seemingly signifying the arrival of a long-awaited, yet rushed, departure.

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Originally written for piano and Balinese gamelan, Waiting : Still is now available for percussionists with this new arrangement by Dr. Omar Carmenates, Assistant Prof. of Percussion, Furman University, USA. It features Balinese gamelan with a percussion duo playing one glockenspiel, one vibraphone, one 5-octave marimba and chimes.

Dedicated to Jack Body, this work is a revisiting of an earlier work of mine, Waiting for the Aeroplane, written when I was a composition student at Victoria University in 1988. Jack was an important mentor during my student days, and two things he encouraged me to do at the time (both of which I resisted) were to join the gamelan (a great regret), and to alter the ostinato pattern in Waiting for the Aeroplane (which I don’t regret). So here, two decades later, I have finally embraced both ideas.

Here it is on Omar Carmenates’s album ‘The Gaia Theory’ - Waiting/Still (percussion and gamelan)

There is also a pared-down alternative version with no gamelan Waiting/Still no gamelan

You can listen to the original version of the piece here on the album Helix on  Waiting/Still (piano and gamelan). This performance is by Donald Nicolson (piano) and myself (gamelan).

There is also a beautiful version for piano and percussion (no gamelan) performed live by Omar Carmenates and Andra Lodge.

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Dedicated to Jack Body, this work is a revisiting of an earlier work of mine, Waiting for the Aeroplane, written when I was a composition student at Victoria University in 1988. Jack was an important mentor during my student days, and two things he encouraged me to do at the time (both of which I resisted) were to join the gamelan (a great regret), and to alter the ostinato pattern in Waiting for the Aeroplane (which I don’t regret). So here, two decades later, I have finally embraced both ideas.

You can listen to the piece here on the album Helix on  Spotify

This performance is by Donald Nicolson (piano) and myself (gamelan).

I miss you Jack…..

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White Feather (2018) - duration: 10m - was commissioned by the Texas Christian University Percussion Orchestra at the instigation of Professor Brian A. West. The first performance of the work was given at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, on the 27th of October 2019.

The title of this work refers to what is often considered the most common angel feather.

I had originally intended to title the work ‘our ever-loving ghosts’. When I imagine angels, I think of the loved ones I’ve lost, still around me, somehow. Transmitting love and care.

Supposedly, a sign our angels are with us is finding a feather. Coming across a feather in your path, or finding one in an unexpected place is thought to be a message from the angels. Specifically, the white feather is thought to be a sign of faith and protection. It can also be an angel telling you that your loved ones are safe and well.  

It is said our angels are always near us, looking over us and protecting us, yet we very rarely know that they are there. Sometimes, in the midst of our rapidly-paced living, they'll send us small signs and signals to let us know they're near, and will always be there for us (until we are ’there’ for others).

These signs can be anything from a subtle flash of light, a rainbow, or an unexpected, sudden feeling of love and warmth within.

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White Lies is a 28-minute piece for piano and taonga puoro created from the score composed by John Psathas for the film ‘White Lies’.

Based on the novella ‘Medicine Woman’ by Witi Ihimaera, the film was written and directed by Dana Rotberg for South Pacific Pictures, and features Rattle recording artist Whirimako Black in her feature film debut in the central role of Paraiti.

The composition is a very delicate, poignant composition that slowly evolves, opening and closing, rising and falling, steadily moving through a very touching emotional landscape. Emma Sayers and Richard Nunns perform with great empathy and tenderness, negotiating the relatively simple motifs with impressive restraint and emotional understatement.

Composed and produced by John Psathas, featuring Richard Nunns (taonga puoro), Emma Sayers (piano), Sasha Gachenko & Matt Cave (bass), Rowan Prior & Paul Mitchell (cello), Konstanze Artmann & Irina Andreeva (viola), Kate Oswin & Matthew Ross (violin), John Psathas (synthesizer), mixed by Steve Garden and John Psathas, designed by UnkleFranc

Released: 28 June 2013
Catalogue: RAT-D043

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Zahara is a saxophone concerto  commissioned by saxophonist Federico Mondelci after hearing my other saxophone concerto Omnifenix. The premiere of "Zahara" featured Federico Mondelci as the saxophone soloist, accompanied by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under the baton of David Atherton, and took place at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington, New Zealand, on September 22, 2006.

SCORE AVAILABLE FROM WAITEATA PRESS MUSIC

CD RECORDING AVAILABLE HERE

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Zeibekiko was conceived as an entire programme of music celebrating the heritage of Greek music from antiquity and the present day. The work was commissioned by The Eduard van Beinum Foundation at the request of the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, and was composed for that ensemble with the addition of two traditional Greek musicians, the clarino player Manos Achalinotopoulos and the percussionist Vagelis Karypis. The work comprises works and arrangements by myself alongside compositions by Christos Hatzis and improvisations by Achalinotopoulos, Karypis and the percussionists of the NBE.