Annie & Joshua
Libretto and music by Robbie Ellis
Based on the play by Thomas Sainsbury (2010)

Buy the score here:
http://sounz.org.nz/works/show/21995

Bridget Costello (Annie), Callum Blackmore (Joshua), Robbie Ellis (piano)
Studio recording made 29 August 2013, Opera Factory, Auckland
Produced, engineered, edited and mixed by Robbie Ellis, with production and engineering assistance from Andrew Grenon.

Summary:
Joshua, a hotel bellboy, proclaims his over-the-top devotion to Annie, a hotel receptionist way out of his league. It’s unrequited love on the late shift until it becomes a marriage of two sleep-deprived minds.

Annie & Joshua was first performed (in a shorter 10-minute version) at Short+Sweet Song Auckland 2013, where it won the Judges' Choice Prize.

Buy the score

Annie & Joshua (2013)

Fletch, Vaughan and Megan of ZM performing the musical sting for Fact of the Day.

Fact of the Day intro

A disco track made for Augmented Fourth's show in the 2014 New Zealand International Comedy Festival. Everything written and played by me except the alto sax part (Yvette Audain).

Augmented Fourth - Disco! (2014)

Written July 2014 on commission from Aubery Lecoq and for Marc Sautelet, who was doing the Dry July Challenge. Requested to be in the genre of "sad". Marc is Belgian, hence the accent.

Live performance at St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin on 15 October 2014. Part of Arts Festival Dunedin.

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Lyrics:
I have given myself a challenge to not have a drink for the month of July.
I well know it is bon for my constitution but the stress and the strain make me cry.
Me not having a drink is so foreign and harrowing; it is my personal hell,
But as angry and mad and frustrated as I get, I know it would be worse for Jacques Brel.

Oh aï étc

Well, at first it was fine to avoid buying alcohol when at the supermarché,
But being offered a drink at a dinner party has a much greater difficulté.
I feel awkward and strange when I order a Coke or a lemon & lime at a bar,
But the worst thing is playing in [insert name of venue/city here] sober, so everyone chante avec moi!

Oh aï étc

Maybe, just maybe I'm doing myself a good deed;
Maybe, just maybe not having a drink is valide.
I'm more energetic, I'm much more alert,
I'm far less pathetic, my head doesn't hurt,
I think I now get it, I am a convert!
This life change is just what I need.

But then, I crack - I remember what fun
I derived from a bière or a bottle of vin.
I see no earthly way to fight my DNA.
At the end of the day, je suis néozélandais!

Dry July (2014)

Auckland Youth Orchestra, Antun Poljanich (conductor)
5 October 2012, Auckland Town Hall
Recorded by Sophie Wilson & Adrian Hollay for RNZ Concert.

In meinem letzten Leiden [2012]

This was written for William Dart's 70th birthday celebrations - it's a cabaret rant about music critics which excepts the birthday boy.

I recorded this demo on 12 February 2017 aboard the Norwegian Breakaway sitting in New York Harbor; and the song was given its première performance by Stephen De Pledge on 24 June 2017 at Rannoch, Auckland, New Zealand.

(Photo by Eve de Castro-Robinson.)

For W.D. (demo) [2017]

A moment from the Late Night Knife Fight show of Sat 14 October at the Scruffy Bunny Improv Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand. Part of the New Zealand Improv Festival.

NZIF: Staring Out A Window

Composed by Robbie Ellis, January to May 2008, Wellington.
Performed by Anna McGregor, 28 July 2008, University of Auckland Music Theatre.

Movements:
I. Skornk (0:00-3:44)
II. Soh (3:55-7:39)
III. Stup (7:43-11:25)

Recording by Matthew Crawford for Radio New Zealand Concert.
© Radio New Zealand 2008. Uploaded with permission.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert

Score available for purchase from SOUNZ - Centre for New Zealand Music
http://sounz.org.nz/works/show/18675

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In phonetics, a sibilant is a type of fricative consonant, or a consonant you can hold by constant airflow. Sibilants are made by placing the tongue towards the sharp end of the teeth and passing air through the small gap – in English, the sibilants we know are ‘s’, ‘z’, ‘sh’ and ‘zh’.

I’ve always felt that the gestures involved in enunciating a word are little different to the gestures involved in sounding a note or playing a phrase on a musical instrument, so why separate them in performance? I came up with three nonsense words starting with the letter ‘s’: “skornk” (pronouncing the ‘r’ quite strongly); “soh” (with the same vowel as in ‘sock’); and “stup” (with the same short vowel as in ‘took’).

The three short pieces are derived from these nonsense words. Skornk is quite brash and boisterous, bringing out a driving, zany quality in the Eb clarinet. Soh is restful, with long and slow-developing phrases that make for a gentle arc in the piece. Stup draws on the rhythms of funk, hip hop and rap, requiring the performer to multi-task as a clarinettist, vocalist and multi-limbed percussionist all at once.

Acknowledgement goes to everyone at the Nelson Composers Workshop, particularly Ross Harris and – of course – the ever willing and ever wonderful Anna McGregor.

Three Sibilants for E-flat clarinet (2008)

This is a cover of John Clarke/Fred Dagg's classic "Gumboots". He recorded his version in 1976:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X2b2x7Fw4o

The 2006 University of Auckland Summer Shakespeare production was of The Comedy of Errors, directed by Patrick Graham. Almost all of the characters in this production were directed to speak in very broad New Zealand accents, and they sang Gumboots twice during the show, including as the finale.

I created this techno dance version to play as the audience left the performance space. While it's in the spirit of a remix, it strictly speaking isn't one, since I didn't use any of Fred Dagg's original recording. The arrangement, all instruments, and all male vocals are mine. The female vocals were recorded by cast members Sarah Thomson, Catherine McHattie, Michaela Spratt and Vicki Stiebel.

Gumboots Dance Remix (2006)

Composed by Robbie Ellis, February-May 2009, Wellington
Score available for purchase from SOUNZ - Centre for New Zealand Music
http://sounz.org.nz/works/show/19497

I – Moderato comodo
Interlude – Clarinet Solo
II – Adagio inesorabile
Interlude – Piano Solo
III – Presto paganinistico

Recording details:
Anna McGregor (clarinet) & Buz Bryant-Greene (piano)
9 May 2009, Adam Concert Room, Victoria University of Wellington
Engineer: Robbie Ellis
More event details: http://sounz.org.nz/events/show/1214

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Programme note:
In writing this work, the composer felt that whether by accident, design, or outright thievery, he drew influence from musical sources besides his own imagination. To that end, he would like to thank (in order of first appearance):
John Ritchie, John Elmsly, Douglas Lilburn, Claude Bolling, the Roy Hargrove Quintet, The Bad Plus, Dmitri Shostakovich, Rickie-Lee Fray (age 4), Radiohead, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Sarah McCallum, Eve de Castro-Robinson, Mad Caddies, Witold Lutosławski, Gustav Mahler, Chick Corea, Elliott Carter, Robbie Ellis, Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy, a dead German, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band, Metallica, Francis Poulenc, Scott Joplin, Jerry Bock, Dave Brubeck, Family Guy, Slayer, a dead Spaniard, Gogol Bordello, The Cat Empire, David Rose, Jonny Doom and The Forcefields, a dead Austrian, a dead Russian, a dead Czech, the opening night cast of Improv: The Secondary School Musical, and The Army Of Skeggs.

Sonatina for clarinet and piano (2009)

Ein Lied im kraftwerkischen Stil, von Robbie Ellis für GBX - Gretchens Geburtstagsfest komponiert. / A song in the style of Kraftwerk, composed by Robbie Ellis for GBX - Gretchen's birthday party.

Für GBX - Heute ist Gretchens Geburtstagsfest [2018]

Written by Robbie Ellis at Song Sale Dunedin, The Church, 21 March 2012.
Part of the Dunedin Fringe Festival.
http://www.facebook.com/SongSaleDunedin

Recorded by Robbie Ellis on 12 December 2012, Albany St Studios, University of Otago, Dunedin.

Sheepdog Plainchant (2012)

Tim Noon (organ), Jono Sawyer (drum kit), Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Hamish McKeich (conductor)
23 May 2013, Auckland Town Hall
Part of the APO's Organ Spectacular concert.
Recorded by Tim Dodd & Adrian Hollay for Radio New Zealand Concert.

Kerry Stevens introduces and interviews Tim Noon from 0:00.
Lee Martelli introduces Relish in Immature Bombast from 2:54.
Music starts at 5:35.

Performance video here:
http://vimeo.com/85122521

Relish in Immature Bombast (2012) - broadcast

New Zealander in Chicago. I write & perform comedy songs. My background is as a "serious" composer (and I still kinda do this), writing for orchestras and chamber ensembles and choirs and such. I also make classical radio.

Robbie Ellis

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