Jeroen Speak (born June 1969) is a New Zealand-born British

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Biography

Jeroen Speak received undergraduate training in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. With the aid of the William Georgetti and Herbert Sutcliffe scholarships he completed a master's degree at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, where he graduated in 1993. In 1994 he was the Composer in Residence at the Nelson School of Music before moving to Britain where he completed a D Phil at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

under

Michael Finnissy Michael Peter Finnissy (born 17 March 1946) is an English composer, pianist, and pedagogue. An immensely prolific composer, his music is "notable for its dramatic urgency and expressive immediacy". Although he rejects the label, he is often r ...

, he has also studied with

John Young John Young may refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow * John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Col ...

, and Jonathan Harvey. In 2004 he was awarded a place in the 'Visiting Arts' exchange programme with

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

where he developed his interests in Chinese and Taiwanese music and aesthetics. In 2005 he was awarded an 'Artist Links' fellowship by the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

to further develop these interests in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. In 1992 he was the recipient of the ACL Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize at the 14th Asian Composers' League Festival, in the same year he was awarded first place the Asia-Pacific Festival Competition for Young New Zealand Composers for his work ''Plagal Nuances''. In 1998 he was awarded first place in the 19th ACL Festival young composers competition in Taiwan for his work ''Auxetos''. The first New Zealander to have won the prize. He received the Philip Neil Memorial Prize from the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

the following year for his work ''Etudes''. His work has been played by Forum Music (Taiwan),

ELISION Ensemble The ELISION Ensemble (often referred to as simply ELISION) is a chamber ensemble specialising in contemporary classical music, concentrating on the creation and presentation of new works. The ensemble comprises a core of around 20 virtuoso musici ...

(Australia), Stroma (New Zealand) as well as soloists such as clarinetist

Richard Haynes Richard Haynes may refer to: * Richard Haynes (cricketer) (1913–1976), English cricketer * Richard Haynes (lawyer) (1927–2017), American defense attorney * Richard Haynes (musician) (born 1983), Australian clarinettist * Richard Septimus Hay ...

, and pianist Nicolas Hodges. In 2013-2014 he was Composer in Residence at the

New Zealand School of Music The New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī, at Victoria University of Wellington (NZSM), is located in Wellington, New Zealand. NZSM provides a tertiary teaching faculty with programmes in Classical Performance, Jazz Performance, Music Studies, C ...

Style

Speak's work can not be easily positioned in the standard European tradition, perhaps a legacy of his New Zealand roots and the influence of his interests in Chinese culture, his style is balanced between the ephemeral and the rigorous, characterised, in his own words, by “polemical internal musical debate, self contradictory behaviour, the simultaneous presentation of 'truth' with 'deceit', a continuous unification of opposites”. This dichotomy is reflected in his work 'Epeisodos', for solo E flat clarinet (1998), which, while rigorous in terms of its various systems of note and register generation, is also partly a transcription of an electroencephalograph of a patient suffering an epileptic seizure, and his piano trio 'Lingua e Realidade' (2007) which explores the Brazilian Vilem Flusser's ideas relating to the function and nature of language, and its focus on the pre-conceptual state just prior to symbolisation.

Works

* ''Arabesques'' (2001), violin and piano * ''Architecture of Time, The'' (2007), piano and percussion * ''Auxetos'', 1998, string quartet * ''Character of Time, The'' (2003), solo piano * ''Choruses for Virgins Widows and Innocents'' (2000) flute, clarinet, viola and piano * ''Comme Le son Evolue'' (2002) string orchestra and 2 harps * ''Epeisodos'' (1998), solo Eb clarinet * ''Etudes'' (1994), violin and piano * ''Event Horizon'' (2010), 3 percussionists and piano * ''Gu Ta'' (1998), 3 percussionists * ''Lingua e Realidade'' (2008), piano, cello, violin * ''Molto Intimo'' (2016), clarinet, trumpet, trombone * ''Music fur witwen, jungfrauen und unschuldige'' (2005), harp, flute, clarinet, string quartet * ''Percussion Concerto'' (2012), piano, 3 percussionists * ''Quatro Stati D'essere Immaginari'' (1999), solo contra bass * ''Silk Dialogue V'' (2006), flute, clarinet, bassoon, Horn 2 violins, viola, cello, contra bass * ''Silk Dialogue VI'' (2008), flute, clarinet in Eb, string quartet * ''String Theory'' (2003), string orchestra * ''Tarantelle'' (2002), solo cello * ''Shadow Aspect'' (2013), solo piano * ''String Quartet III'' (2013), string quartet * ''Eratosthenes' Sieve'' (2014), mixed ensemble * ''Jungs Shadow'' (2012), cello and piano

Recordings

* The Wai-te-ata Music Press Collection of New Zealand Music No.7 (2004) * Musical Kaleidoscope: Taiwans Contemporary Music 4 (2008) * Sunrise: Music for Young Pianists (2007) * Take Flight: Music for Young Pianists (2011)

References

External links

Composers websiteSOUNZ PageSound and Music Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speak, Jeroen 1969 births Living people New Zealand composers Male composers Victoria University of Wellington alumni