Latin America is known for its creativity in the arts and music space, providing a great opportunity for New Zealanders to gain a wealth of firsthand, transferable knowledge in this area​​.​  ​The Latin America Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence, in collaboration with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand School of Music,​ Puentes Abroad in Argentina,​ and Campus B​ in Colombia​, will provide New Zealand university​​ student​ composer​s with a music immersion ​experience ​centered around Latin America​, specifically​ Colombia and Argentina. ​

​The New Zealand student composers will participate in a series of virtual seminars, masterclasses, and forums led by Latin American ​musicians and composers, as well as in-person meetings in New Zealand.  The students will gain a fresh perspective on the classical music field in Latin America and explore connections between New Zealand and Latin America in the creative sector.  The New Zealand student composers will draw on Latin American influences to jointly compose an original 10-minute composition that will be performed live in New Zealand at the conclusion of the project.

A note from Latin America CAPE’s Director

It gives me great pleasure to join the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in welcoming you to the launch of the Latin America CAPE’s Musicality Programme.

Our Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence was established in 2017 to help New Zealanders engage more successfully with Latin America. Hosted at Victoria University of Wellington, and managed by a consortium that also includes Auckland, Waikato and Otago universities, we deliver innovative programmes that contribute to New Zealanders’ knowledge of Latin America and enhance relationships with the region.

Before they can choose to focus on Latin America, however, New Zealanders must first see that region’s relevance to their future and identify points of connection with it. For this reason we are working to strengthen cultural ties with the region’s peoples, as such ties can spark new opportunities for emotional, intellectual, and commercial encounters.

This Musicality programme is a perfect expression of our ambition. Through uniting young New Zealand composers with Latin American peers it will produce a new piece of cross-cultural music to be performed publicly by New Zealand music students. Beginning this weekend, there will be a series of structured activities designed with Latin American partners and mentored by New Zealand and Latin American composers that foster greater mutual understanding of our societies’ cultures, languages and rhythms. At it progresses, too, we look forward to seeing its fruits shared with music lovers in both countries and a new level of connections between our peoples.

Thank you for your support for this project and our work, and good luck with this exciting challenge!

Dr Matthew O’Meagher
Director
Latin America Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence