Born and educated in Aotearoa, Gillian Whitehead (DNZM, MNZM), is of Ngai Terangi and Tuhoe descent. She lived and worked as a freelance composer in Europe and Australia for 15 years, then taught at the Sydney Conservatorium during the 1980s before returning to Aotearoa to resume her career as a free-lance composer.
Her music, written for orchestral, vocal, choral, chamber, operatic and solo forces, sometimes involves taonga pūoro, te reo Māori or directed improvisation. In 2018 she became an icon of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, and in 2021 received a Ngā Tohu ā Tā Kingi Ihaka/Sir Kingi Ihaka Award, recognising her lifetime contribution to ngā Toi Māori.
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1941
— born Hamilton, New Zealand
— spends childhood in Auckland and Whangarei
1959–62
— studies composition with Ronald Tremain at the University of Auckland
1963
— studies at Victoria University of Wellington
— composes Missa Brevis and Three Improvisations for solo oboe
1964
— graduates B.Mus Hons
1964–65
— studies composition at the University of Sydney with Peter Sculthorpe
1966
— graduates M.Mus Hons from the University of Sydney
— studies at Adelaide Conservatorium with Peter Maxwell Davies
— composes film score Three Bridges to cross, for NHK-ABC documentary on Cambodia
— composes Fantasia on three notes
1967
— travels to England to continue studying with Peter Maxwell Davies
— works in London composing and copying music for 2 years
1968
— Pākuru performed by Pierrot Players conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies in Berlin
1969–70
— works in Portugal and Italy with the assistance of a New Zealand Arts Council grant
1970–1977
— continues freelance composing, principally based in the United Kingdom
1970
— Pākuru performed at Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank, London
1971
— string quartet, Te āhua, te atārangi, wins NZBC/ APRA/ NZ Music Federation competition
1973
— Marduk for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble premiered by Fires of London, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
1974–1977
— divides time between London and Orkney
1975
— spends 6 months in New Zealand
1978
— opera Tristan and Iseult premieres at 1978 Auckland Festival and wins a special award from APRA
— spends 6 months in New Zealand
1978–80
— moves to Great Bavington in Northumbria
— appointed Composer in Residence for Northern Arts attached to Newcastle University in the United Kingdom
1981
— Hotspur given several performances and is the official celebration for Waitangi Day at New Zealand House in London
— is guest lecturer, then appointed lecturer in Composition at Sydney Conservatorium of Music
— divides time between Sydney and United Kingdom
1985
— appointed Acting, and subsequently Alternating Head of Composition, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
— establishes an unofficial 6 months on, then 6 months off job-sharing situation, allowing 6 months each year for writing and travelling
1986
— buys house in Katoomba
1988
— opera, Bride of Fortune premieres at Perth Festival
1989
— takes up short residency at School of Music, Victoria University, Wellington
— composes Resurgences
1991
— diagnosed with breast cancer
1992
— appointed Mozart Fellow at Otago University
1993
— sells Katoomba house and buys apartment in Crows Nest, Sydney
1996
— leaves Sydney Conservatorium and divides her time freelancing between Sydney and Dunedin
1998
— Ipu, a CD produced in collaboration with Tungia Baker, released by Rattle
— opera, Outrageous Fortune premieres in Dunedin
1998–2003
— serves as President of the Composers’ Association of New Zealand
1999
— Outrageous Fortune wins the SOUNZ Contemporary Award
— honoured with Membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to music
2000
— is one of the inaugural Artist Laureates of the New Zealand Arts Foundation and now a governor of the organisation
— Composer Portrait: Gillian Whitehead, the third CD in the Waiteata Collection of New Zealand Music series released
2000 and 2001
— appointed Composer in Residence at the Auckland Philharmonia
— the improbable ordered dance (for orchestra) written during the residency wins the 2001 SOUNZ Contemporary Award
2002
— New Zealand International Festival of the Arts presents Composer Portrait concert
2003
— wins the SOUNZ Contemporary Award for Alice, for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, also written for the Auckland Philharmonia
— with Richard Nunns attends the International Festival of Women in Music Today in Seoul, Korea where Hineraukatauri is chosen to represent New Zealand
— awarded honorary Doctorate by Victoria University of Wellington, University Dmus (honoris causa)
2004
— founds ensemble Tuhonohono to perform in Jakarta, Indonesia
— visits Cambodia
2005
— appointed New Zealand School of Music/ Creative New Zealand Composer in Residence
— lives in Douglas Lilburn’s former Thorndon home in Wellington, known as the Lilburn Residence, as the inaugural resident composer
2006
— Composer in Residence documentary broadcast on TNVZ’s Artsville programme
2007
— awarded KBB/CANZ citation for services to New Zealand Music
2008
— made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit
— Puhake ki te rangi, a CD of chamber music released by Rattle
2009
— in his absence, leads Jack Body’s delegation of 28 New Zealand artists to World Music Days at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, China
— takes up position of artist-in-residence for 12 months at the Henderson House, a Plischke-designed house in Alexandra, Central Otago
— joins 10 artists on a trip to Dusky and Doubtful Sounds in Fiordland to create work as a fundraiser for the Caselberg Trust
— becomes patron of the Caselberg Trust who maintain the Dunedin house of Anna and John Caselberg for use as artist residencies
2010
— biography by Noel Sanders, Moon, Tides, and Shoreline launched
2011
— is featured artist at the City of London festival
— undertakes travels in Europe
— travels with Jack Body to Cambodia to audition and rehearse for his O Cambodia project
— O Cambodia premiered at the Auckland Festival
2012
— Arapatiki, a CD of chamber music released by Atoll
2013
— attends performances of O Cambodia in Phnom Penh and China
— attends concert devoted to her works in Prague, curated by American-born Prague-based pianist Patricia Goodson
— takes up the James Wallace Arts Trust residency at the Pah homestead in Auckland
— Alice, a CD of orchestral works released by Atoll
2014
— Shadows cross the water for chamber sextet, premiered in Prague
— moves to Ruakaka in the north of New Zealand
2015
— presents a paper at conference, ‘Jack Body: Cross-Cultural Music’ at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, where some works are also presented
2016
— programmes of works performed in Prague and Berlin
2018
— NZSO plays Turanganui in Gisborne and the main concert venues in Aotearoa
— Shadows Crossing Water, a CD of chamber music, released by Rattle
2020–2021
— Time steps out of line premiered by New-York group Juilliard415
— several first performances cancelled because of Covid
— honoured with the 2021 Te Tohu ā Tā Kingi Ihaka (Sir Kingi Ihaka Award) in recognition of a lifetime contribution to Ngā Toi Māori and strengthening Māori culture
2022
— moves back to the South Island to a new house in Portobello, Dunedin
— violin concerto, Tai timu tai pari premiered by Andrew Beer and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
— collaborates to create Ad Parnassum with Daniel Belton and Good Company Arts
— Moonstone, a CD of works for viola and piano, released by Rattle