Woodshed 2023: Meet the composers
Linda Dallimore, Nicholas Denton Protsack, and Simon Eastwood have been selected for the second edition of Composer Woodshed with NZTrio, which will take place early May in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
Linda Dallimore
Linda Dallimore is a composer, arranger, flautist, and teacher hailing from Auckland. Her music explores textures, colours, and often draws inspiration from personal experiences, the environment, and socio-political topics. Her work has been played by numerous chamber ensembles and orchestras including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Rhode Island Philarmonic, and she has participated in several festivals across Europe and the United States.
Linda holds a Master of Musical Arts in composition at Yale School of Music, where she studied with Christopher Theofanidis and Martin Bresnick. As an alumna of Berklee College of Music, Linda majored in composition and flute performance. She also holds a Master of Music alongside bachelor degrees in Arts and Commerce from the University of Auckland.
Nicholas Denton Protsack
Nicholas Denton Protsack is a composer and concert cellist, originally from British Columbia, Canada. His creative works often explore connections between music and the natural world: Recent examples of this include Murmur From Thin Places, commissioned by the 2022 Toronto Summer Music Festival, and Into this Fracturing Land, which received a BMI Foundation SCA Award. Nicholas is currently undertaking a PhD in music at Victoria University in Wellington, studying with composers Michael Norris and Dugal McKinnon.
Simon Eastwood
Composer and bass player Simon Eastwood has a diverse practice, including orchestral and chamber works, electronic pieces, and improvisation. He studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington. His most recent work revolves around ‘re-interpretive collaboration’ with non-classical musicians, poets, painters, and video artists.
Simon has attended residencies and festivals in the UK, Bulgaria, Estonia, Alaska, Austria, Turkey, and Lithuania. His works have been performed around the world by artists including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, CHROMA, and the BBC Singers. In 2021, GRAMMY-nominated percussionist Justin DeHart included his set ‘Silver Wind, Golden Earth, White Water’ on Landfall, a collection of New Zealand percussion music released by Rattle Records.
Other media
View all
Artist Spotlight: Q&A with NZTrio cellist Matthias Balzat
Adding a viola and double bass, NZTrio He Taonga Wairere will be creating a quintet in the upcoming tour of NZTrio+ to perform Schubert's ebullient and beloved Trout Quintet. We caught up with NZTrio cellist Matthias Balzat and asked him about touring, what he's most looking forward to in the upcoming NZTrio+ tour, and which artists he'd most like to work with.
Artist Spotlight: Q&A with award-winning author Tina Makereti
Ā mua is a groundbreaking new work commissioned by Chamber Music New Zealand for our 2026 season. Incorporating kupu (word), taonga puoro, and orchestral string instruments, it's an exploration of how the past, present and future intertwine and connect. "Ki te Whai Ao, ki Te Ao Marama. Light comes into the world. Matter spirals into being. The history of humanity rolls out—longer and more fascinating and complicated than we can imagine, and you have lived many lives through it, coming into and out of being," writes award-winning author Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā), who collaborated with composer and multi-instrumentalist Riki Gooch to create Ā mua. We caught up with Tina and had a chat about writing, her creative process and the experience of working with musicians.
Artist Spotlight: Q&A with trumpeter and composer Cameron Pearce
Trumpeter and composer Cameron Pearce draws on colours from composers Aaron Copland, Steve Reich and Gabriel Fauré and trumpeters Kenny Wheeler and Ron Miles for his original works that he'll be touring with Symposium Brass as part of CMNZ's 2026 Season, Te Hiringa Oro - The Experience of sound.
Artist Spotlight: a Q&A with composer and multi-instrumentalist Riki Gooch
For our 2026 season, Te Hiringa Oro – The Experience of Sound, we commissioned a work called Ā mua, combining kupu (spoken word), taonga puoro, cello and viola. A collaborative creative endeavour by award-winning author Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) and composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist Riki Gooch (Ngāti Wai, Patuharakeke, Ngaati Maahanga), it's a unique and intimate journey through time and space, blending Māori futurism and universal human stories in an intimate and evocative performance. We caught up with Riki and asked him a few questions about his creative process and the show.
50 Years of Avant-Garde Sound
For half a century, New Zealand’s legendary and most adventurous contemporary chamber music ensemble, From Scratch, have created performances where sound, image, and invention collide.
Passing the Torch
In the middle of her daughter Emily’s performance in the Otago District Rounds of the Chamber Music Contest, Philippa Fotheringham’s Garmin watch told her that her heartrate was abnormally high.
