The SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha, presented in collaboration with APRA AMCOS NZ, has been awarded since 1998, recognising New Zealand compositions that demonstrate outstanding levels of creativity and inspiration.
Composers who are members of APRA are annually invited to enter up to two works which have been premiered in the previous year. Pieces may have been premiered publicly, recorded for radio broadcast or by a recognised recording label for distribution, or performed by a professional orchestra in a professional development situation. SOUNZ may in its absolute discretion accept an entry outside the eligibility period because of special circumstances. For example when a composition is completed and professionally recorded but not made available for reasons beyond the composer’s control this may qualify as a special circumstance.
The works can be for solo, chamber, ensemble, choral, opera, orchestral, electro-acoustic or any combination of these.
SOUNZ Centre for NZ Music convenes a jury to select three finalists whose entry shows outstanding compositional excellence and inspiration.
The award, consisting of a trophy and cash prize (currently $3,000), is presented each year at the APRA Silver Scroll awards ceremony. The trophy for the SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha has been designed and made by Auckland sculptor Sarah Smuts Kennedy and depicts a bronze fern frond mounted on a shaped oak and ebony base.
Te Tohu Ao Hou a Toi te Arapūoru
Nō te tau 1998 i tīmata ai te tuku i Te Tohu Ao Hou a Toi te Arapūoru. He mea tuku ngātahi e Toi te Arapūoru me APRA AMCOS NZ hei whakanui i ngā titonga puoro o Aotearoa e eke ana ki te tihi o Toi, o Auaha.
Ka tonoa ngā mema o APRA kia tuku mai i tētahi titonga kotahi, e rua rānei, kua tukuna tuatahitia ki te ao i te tau o mua atu. Tērā pea i kawea tuatahitia i te aroaro o Tūmatanui mā, tērā rānei i āta hopukina hei pāho ki te reo irirangi, tērā rānei i hopukina e tētahi pakihi whakaputa puoro hei toha whānui, tērā kē rānei i kawea ake e tētahi tira puoro ngaio i tētahi horopaki whakapakari pūkenga. Tērā anō pea ka whakaae a Toi te Arapūoru (heoi anō, kei a ia rawa te tikanga) kia uru tētahi titonga o waho o te tau e tika ana, mēnā he tino take i tika ai kia pērā. Hei tauira, mēnā i oti, i hopukina ngaiotia anō hoki he titonga, engari kāore i tukuna ki te ao, ā, ko ngā take i kore ai, kei tua o te awe o te kaitito.
Ko ngā titonga puoro nei, hei hiki mā te tangata takitahi, mā te taka puoro, te kāhui puoro, te tira waiata, te rōpū puoro whakaari, te rāngai puoro, te kaipuoro orooro-hiko, ētahi huinga rānei o ēnei.
Ka huia e Toi te Arapūoru he pae whakawā hei kōwhiri i tētahi tokotoru ko rātou kei te whiringa toa, inā te kairangi o te titonga me te auaha o te whakaaro.
Ko te tohu nei, he tohutoa hei hāpai mā te ringa, he moni anō (i tēnei wā e $3,000). Whakawhiwhia ai i ia tau i te hui tuku tohu a APRA e kīia nei ko ngā Silver Scroll. He mea hoahoa, he mea tārai te Te Tohu Ao Hou a Toi te Arapūoru e tētahi kaitārai whakapakoko o Tāmakimakaurau, ko Sarah Smuts Kennedy te ingoa. He huruwhenua rauwhero, ko te tūāpapa he mea tārai ki te oke me te eponi.
Kei te pae tukutuku a APRA te roanga atu o ngā kōrero mō ngā Tohutoa Silver Scroll.
Winners and finalists of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha
2022 Winner: Reuben Jelleyman: Catalogue
Finalists: Neville Hall: more full of flames and voices & Phil Brownlee/Ariana Tikao: Maanaki
2021 Winner: Plan 9 (David Donaldson, Janet Roddick, and Steve Roche): The Bewilderness
Finalists: Reuben Jelleyman: Klein Fountain & Neville Hall: so flamed in the air
2020 Winner: Michael Norris: Mātauranga (Rerenga)
Finalists: Celeste Oram: a loose affiliation of alleluias & Alex Taylor / Simon Ingram: Assemblage
2019 Winner: Michael Norris: Violin Concerto 'Sama'
Finalists: Chris Gendall: Violin Concerto & Chris Watson: ogee
2018 Winner: Michael Norris: Sygyt
Finalists: Leonie Holmes: Dance of the Wintersmith & Rosie Langabeer: Occulmente
2017 Winner: Salina Fisher: Tōrino
Finalists: Chris Gendall: Incident Tableaux Part One & Jeroen Speak: Serendipity Fields
2016 Winner: Salina Fisher: Rainphase
Finalists: Kenneth Young: Piano Trio & Chris Cree Brown: Viola Concerto
2015 Winner: Chris Watson: sing songs self
Finalists: Reuben Jelleyman: Expanse & Ross Harris: Piano Quintet
2014 Winner: Michael Norris: Inner Phases
Finalists: Leonie Holmes: Aquae Sulis & Celeste Oram: macropsia
2013 Winner: Karlo Margetić: Lightbox
Finalists: Michael Norris: TIMEDANCE & Chris Gendall: Triple Concerto
2012 Winner: Alex Taylor: [inner]
Finalists: Kenneth Young: Four Questions, No Answers & Michael Williams: The Juniper Passion
2011 Winner: Lyell Cresswell: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Finalists: Chris Gendall: Gravitas & Samuel Holloway: Sillage
2010 Winner: Chris Cree Brown: Inner Bellow
Finalists: Chris Gendall: Rudiments & Ross Harris: Violin Concerto No.1
2009 Winner: Ross Harris: Symphony No. 3
Finalists: Michael Norris: Volti & Jack Body: My Name is Mok Bhon
2008 Winner: Chris Gendall: Wax Lyrical
Finalists: Chris Cree Brown: Remote Presence & Peter Scholes: Requiem Concerto
2007 Winner: Eve de Castro-Robinson: These arms to hold you
Finalists: Christopher Blake: Angel at Ahipara & Ross Harris: The Sleep of Reason...
2006 Winner: Ross Harris: Symphony No. 2
Finalists: Eve de Castro-Robinson: Releasing the Angel & Dylan Lardelli: Tumbu
2005 Winner: Ross Harris: Labyrinth for Tuba and Orchestra
Finalists: Kenneth Young: Symphony No.2 & Jeroen Speak: Gu ta
2004 Winner: John Psathas: Three Psalms
Finalists: Michael Norris: Rays of the Sun, Shards of the Moon, John Cousins: Say, & Ross Harris: A the Edge of Silence
2003 Winner: Gillian Whitehead: Alice
Finalists: Ross Harris: Chaconne for Solo Viola, Craig Utting: Cirrus, & Chris Cree Brown: Icescape
2002 Winner: John Psathas: View from Olympus
Finalists: Chris Cree Brown: Memories Apart & John Rimmer: Europa
2001 Winner: Gillian Whitehead: the improbable ordered dance
Finalists: Anthony Ritchie: Piano Trio, Philip Brownlee: Sinew/Synapse, & Jordan Reyne: The Long Goodbye
2000 Winner: Ross Harris: To the Memory of I.S. Totzka
Finalists: Lyell Cresswell: Oh Whirlwind Underground & Anthony Ritchie: Symphony No.2 - The Widening Gyre
1999 Winner: Gillian Whitehead: Outrageous Fortune
Finalists: Helen Bowater: Banshee & Brigid Ursual Bisley: Come Back Safely
1998 Winner: Eve De Castro-Robinson: Chaos of Delight III
Finalists: Anthony Ritchie: Revelations & Dorothy Buchanan: The Woman at the Store