A Conversation Over Dinner with… NYU RESED Visiting Faculty, New Zealand Composer Gareth Farr & A/P/A Artist-in-Residence, Susana Lei’ataua
When: Friday, April 10th @ 7:00pm RSVP to tn24@nyu.edu (HURRY seating is limited) ** Get the opportunity to talk with both of these interesting and accomplished artists about their professions while enjoying a great meal at PIOLA!
GARETH FARR’S BIO:
www.garethfarr.com
Gareth Farr was born in Wellington in 1968. He studied composition, orchestration and electronic music at Auckland University and was a regular player with the Auckland Philharmonia and the Karlheinz Company. Further study followed at Victoria University, Wellington, where he became known for his exciting compositions, often using the Indonesian gamelan. He played frequently as part of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra before going to the Eastman School in Rochester, New York, where he graduated Master of Music.
At 25, Gareth became Chamber Music New Zealands youngest composer-in-residence. Since then, his works have been performed by the NZSO, the Auckland Philharmonia, the Wellington Sinfonia, the New Zealand String Quartet and a variety of other professional musicians. Gareth Farr is recognised as one of New Zealands most important composers. He has been on a roll since he had four commissioned works performed during the 1994 International Festival of the Arts: Liliths Dream of Ecstasy*, solo pieces for Michael Houstoun (piano) and Alexa Still (Principal Flute, NZSO) respectively, and a ballet for Douglas Wright.
His From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs was premiered at the NZSO*s 50th Anniversary Gala Concert in March 1997. (Part I of this work was premiered under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner with the NZSO in 1996).
More recently, Gareth has had two CDs of his music released on the Trust label; the NZSO played his Te Papa at the opening of the Museum of New Zealand; he has appeared on Holmes, been interviewed by Kim Hill and recorded a David Brown short story for National Radio.
Gareth*s alter ego, Lilith, has performed Drumdrag to sold-out houses, won a fashion award at the Trentham Races wearing her own high-fashion handiwork, appeared in television commercials, and was recently seen recording a pop video for the theme song from Drumdrag.
SUSANA LEI’ATAUA’S BIO:
http://www.apa.nyu.edu/AIR/susana/faitala/
Susana Lei’ataua is an actor and a writer. She is the recipient of the New Zealand Fulbright Senior Scholar Award for 2008. Born in Wellington, New Zealand Susana is from generations of orators and story-tellers. She is part of the Lei‘ataua and Taupa‘u families of Manono, Samoa and her mother’s family has been in the Pacific for 200 years. She initially studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, was Rossignol in Marat Sade at the Tribeca Lab, Lysistrata in Lysistrata in Washington Square Park; and under the banner Musumusu performed musical collaborations in downtown theaters and lofts including Lost in the Apple with members of the Groove Collective. Her solo dramatic poem through windows was produced by the A/P/A Institute in 2003 and as part of the New York Pacifika Film Festival in 2004. A recording of it is archived at Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa - the National Library of New Zealand. Lei‘ataua was in the Aotearoa/New Zealand delegation at the 9th Pacific Arts Festival in Palau in 2004. She has been a journalist, radio newsreader, talk show host, television presenter, producer, editor; a communications consultant for New Zealand government agencies and the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and project manager of the Ngai Tahu Leadership Programme.
The Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU presents
BREAKING THE SURFACE Tell the truth. Be here now. A mountain travels from the Pacific to wake this Island