Gem (Preview)

theatre, Māori kapa haka, contemporary dance and song, with Farr’s stirring music, and
toured a number of centres in New Zealand. In 2006 Farr was awarded the Order of New
Zealand Merit for his services to music and entertainment. That same year, the Royal New
Zealand Ballet toured the country with their brand new work The Wedding, featuring a
score by Farr. At ninety minutes, it was among the company’s most ambitious projects, and
combined Farr’s talents with those of prominent New Zealand novelist and librettist Witi
Ihimaera.
In March of 2014 Farr’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra received its world premiere
from soloist Tony Lee and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pietari
Inkenen. Its UK premiere followed one year later, with Lee backed by the BBC Philharmonic,
with conductor Tecwyn Evans. The concerto received critical acclaim with the Dominion
Post’s John Button writing “…the ear was tickled bar after bar. I have no doubt that this
marvellously inventive piano concerto is bound to develop an international life all its own.”
More recently, Farr’s score for the opera The Bone Feeder received critical praise for its
unique and imaginative articulation of intersecting cultures in New Zealand. Premiering at
the 2017 Auckland Arts Festival, Farr brought together instruments from Chinese, Western
and Māori culture to create an exotic and balanced synthesis of sounds, with David Larsen
of Metro Magazine commenting “Farr’s textures and moods are wonderful: timbres mingle
and shift in ways that are at once fascinating and symbolically appropriate.” In May of
2017 Farr’s Cello Concerto, subtitled Chemin des Dames, was premiered in Wellington, New
Zealand. Performed by French cellist Sébastien Hurtaud and the New Zealand Symphony
Orchestra, the concerto is a tribute to the soldiers who fell on the First World War battlefields
of France and Belgium, with critic William Dart stating “In a work of impeccable atmosphere,
welcoming for both players and audience, the weeping beauties of its central section stayed
with me long into the evening.”
Latest information about the composer may be found at www.garethfarr.com.
PE136 – 4