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.