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.
Listen to the interview with Fergus Byett
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions.
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."