Cloud Folk

John Psathas (1966)
John Psathas is one of New Zealand’s most frequently performed composers and has been
described by fellow composer Christos Hatzis as one of the three most important living
composers of the Greek Diaspora. Psathas’ output has spanned high-energy chamber and
orchestral works, film scores and multi-disciplinary works, with strong focus on large-scale
collaborative projects in recent years.
Psathas grew up in Taumaranui and then Napier, and left high school early to study
composition and piano at Victoria University of Wellington. He then undertook further
studies with composer Jacqueline Fontyn in Belgium before returning to New Zealand.
Early success came in 1991 with Matre’s Dance, a maximum-energy duet for percussion and
piano that has since made Psathas’ name internationally known through having been taken
up and championed by percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.
International acclaim continued to accumulate for Psathas following the August 2000
premiere of his saxophone concerto Omnifenix by legendary jazz saxophonist Michael
Brecker. The growing popularity of his Drum Dances for drum kit and piano established
Psathas as an exceptional writer for percussion. Psathas also came to embrace writing
for large forces; evidenced by the much heralded View From Olympus, a double concerto
for percussion, piano and orchestra. Since its premiere, View From Olympus has gone on
to be performed by many orchestras around the world. His piano concerto Three Psalms
followed in 2004. In 2008 Chamber Music New Zealand commissioned Psathas to write
a string quartet, A Cool Wind, for the Takács Quartet. All the while, Psathas continued to
write formidable and exciting works for percussion, evidenced by Djinn, a concerto for
solo marimba and chamber orchestra, and One Study One Summary for marimba, junk
percussion and digital audio, which has become a popular standard among the repertoire of
modern works for solo percussion and reflects a period in which Psathas explored the world
of electronica.
PE190 – iii