Orchestral Music

Live performance by the Auckland Philharmonia

Anastasis - 1st Movement

Anastasis - 2nd Movement

Live performance by the Auckland Philharmonia. A 12 tone tango.

Anastasis - 3rd Movement

An orchestral work written before the birth of our first son, Caspar. 

Caspar; an imminent arrival

The first orchestral work that I wrote, written in Wells, immediately after the events of September 11, 2001. This recording is by the Auckland Philharmonia in a Workshop setting.

Essentially "Elegy for a World Obsessed with Violence" is a work full of hope. Hope that it is possible to find better ways to resolve conflict within our world. Hope that it is possible for different cultures and beliefs to coexist with understanding and tolerance for others.

Elegy For A World Obsessed With Violence

Symphonic Dances

Anastasis - 4th Movement

The title In Memoriam relates to the many things and people from our individual and shared pasts that shape us and make us the way we are. It is a piece that draws on music from the past, particularly early European music and also the native birdsong and sounds of the New Zealand bush.

Recorded by the Wellington Youth Orchestra, conducted by Owen Clarke.

In Memoriam

Echoed Memories was written while I was Composer in Residence with the Auckland Philharmonia as part of a collaborative project with the Auckland War Memorial Museum. I was asked to write a work, inspired by one of the spaces in the Museum. I chose the World War I Sanctuary.

The World War I Sanctuary is a public space, but also a very personal one for the many people who have relatives names inscribed on the walls. The dignity of the space, the sense of light which streams through the skylight and windows, contrasting with the sombre nature of the lists of names that surround you.

In Echoed Memories I draw on several musical pieces that would have been significant to the soldiers; The Last Post, the popular tune It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, and I Runga o Nga Puke, written by Paraire Tomoana and used to farewell the Second Maori Contingent in 1915.

At the same time I was conscious of the fact that my own life has been much distanced from the experience of war. I wanted to write something that did not try to diminish or trivialise the experience of those who have gone through the pain of war. I wanted to create a piece that, drawing on aural fragments of our collective past, might allow us to reflect and contemplate what the World War I Sanctuary actually means.

Sonic Museum

Echoed Memories

Antonyms of Trust is a setting of a poem by Canterbury author and artist Sam Mahon for actor and orchestra.

Antonyms of Trust

Chris Adams (1979-) is a New Zealand composer and is the Head of Music at The Christchurch Rudolf Steiner School in Christchurch. He was the Mozart Fellow (2010-2011) at the University of Otago and the Auckland Philharmonia’s Composer in Residence (2009). Chris was the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Pah Homestead from July to September, 2010, a position he held again for a further three months in 2011.

Orchestral Music

Chris Adams Composer