Cloud Folk

Psathas has always embraced writing for large ensembles, and this has intensified since the
turn of the century. He was selected to score much of the opening ceremony of the Athens
2004 Olympic Games, which led to a proliferation of large-scale projects, collaborating with
artists from dozens of musical traditions. Much of his work since 2010 has overt social and
historical commentary at its core. Psathas handled the orchestral arrangements for the Elect
the Dead Symphony, featuring Armenian-American rock musician Serj Tankian. The album
reached No.2 on the Billboard Classical Album Chart. Psathas wrote the original score for
the feature film White Lies, described as a depiction of the head-on clash of beliefs and the
nature of identity in early New Zealand European settler society. Between Zero and One is
inspired by ancient and modern rhythms, and brings musicians from around the world into
the concert space via interactive projection, transforming and challenging the traditional
experience of fixed-location, temporally-contained performance. Psathas collaborated
with Tankian once again for the song 100 Years, which is featured in the soundtrack to the
film 1915, an unflinching exploration and remembrance of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
Most recently, Psathas co-produced and wrote music for the epic experimental film project
No Man’s Land—a project conceived to overtly challenge the accepted handling of World
War I commemorations—and involved filming and integrating 150 musicians from more
than 25 different countries, including Oum El Ghait (Morocco), Meeta Pandit (India), Bijan
Chemirani (Iran/France), Marta Sebestyen (Hungary), Vagelis Karipis (Greece), Refugees of
Rap (Syria), and Derya Turkan and Saddredin Ozcimi (Turkey).
Psathas has received an array of awards and honours, including twice winning the SOUNZ
Contemporary APRA Silver Scroll Award (2002 and 2004) for individual works and being
awarded three Classical Album of the Year awards (2000, 2004 and 2007) in the NZ Music
Awards. In 2003 he was made a New Zealand Arts Foundation Laureate and in 2005 was
appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM). He teaches composition
at the New Zealand School of Music (Victoria University of Wellington), receiving the title
of Professor in Composition in 2011. In 2014, Victoria University of Wellington conferred
Psathas the degree of Doctor of Music (DMus), a higher doctorate in recognition for the
immense body of work he has contributed to his field.
Latest information about the composer may be found at www.johnpsathas.com.
PE190 – iv