Choirs Aotearoa is calling for entries for its annual choral composing quest, Compose Aotearoa!
Fergus Byett Photo: Jeremy Tritt
Fergus Byett was the winner of the Under-25 category in the 2023 competition, and also awarded the Choirs Aotearoa Composer-in-Residence position for 2024.
He spoke with Three to Seven host Bryan Crump about what he’s currently working on, and what it was like to have his winning composition ‘Make a Joyful Noise’ workshopped by members of the world-class national chamber choir, Voices New Zealand.
Although he has written some instrumental music, it's composing music where there are words involved that really inspires Fergus.
"I struggle a lot, actually, with writing music that doesn't have some kind of text with it. I think for me, text is really what gets me engaged in, and thinking about, different musical possibilities."
"For me, that's where the inspiration tends to start."
