{{Short description|New Zealand composer (born 1980)}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}} '''Christopher Thomas Gendall''' (born 1980) is a New Zealand composer and lecturer in composition at the University of Auckland.
== Early life and education == Born in 1980 in Hamilton Gendall studied composition at Victoria University in Wellington.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gendall, Chris, 1980- |url=https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/ |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=tiaki.natlib.govt.nz |archive-date=11 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811091644/https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Gendall studied under Roberto Sierra and Steven Stucky at Cornell University and was awarded his PhD in 2010 with his thesis entitled ''New Musical Rhythm: Toward a Reductive Analytical Method for Music since 1900.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gendall |first=Christopher Thomas |url=https://catalog.library.cornell.edu/catalog/7061530 |title=New Musical Rhythm: Toward a Reductive Analytical Method for Music since 1900 |publisher=PhD Thesis. Cornell University |year=2010}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Chris Gendall - SOUNZ |url=https://sounz.org.nz/contributors/1239 |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=sounz.org.nz}}</ref>
== Career == In 2009 Gendall, along with Gillian Whitehead, Ross Harris, John Psathas and Eve de Castro-Robinson, was one of the composers chosen by SOUNZ (Centre for New Zealand Music) to compose for SOUNZtender an online auction in which anyone could put up a tender for a composer's work.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Biss |first=Rod |date=16 May 2009 |title=Sonata for you |journal=New Zealand Listener |page=47}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=SOUNZtender: the Concert - SOUNZ |url=https://sounz.org.nz/events/1585 |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=sounz.org.nz |archive-date=21 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521104312/https://sounz.org.nz/events/1585 |url-status=live }}</ref> Gendall's composition ''Suite for String Orchestra'' was written while he was Composer in Residence at the Banff Centre in Alberta.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Suite for String Quartet - SOUNZ |url=https://sounz.org.nz/works/20155 |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=sounz.org.nz |archive-date=23 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523154157/https://sounz.org.nz/works/20155 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2010 he was appointed as the Creative New Zealand/Jack C Richards Composer in Residence at the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |date=December 2011 |title=Chris Gendall – 2011 Vector Wellington Orchestra Composer in Residence |journal=New Zealand Opera News |page=19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-03-17 |title=Chris Gendall |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/upbeat/audio/2240792/chris-gendall |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=RNZ |language=en-nz}}</ref> The Vector Wellington Orchestra (now Orchestra Wellington) appointed Gendall as their Composer in Residence for 2011.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=16 September 2011 |title=Chris Gendall named Wellington orchestra's composer in residence |url=https://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=38610 |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=Scoop |language=en}}</ref> His ''Triple Concerto'' for the orchesta and the NZTrio was performed in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Triple Concerto - SOUNZ |url=https://sounz.org.nz/works/20898 |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=sounz.org.nz |archive-date=21 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521230053/https://sounz.org.nz/works/20898 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Gendall was Mozart Fellow at the University of Otago in 2016 and 2017.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2017-10-30 |title=Chris GENDALL: Wax Lyrical |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/resound/audio/2018619744/chris-gendall-wax-lyrical |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=RNZ |language=en-nz}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Art fellows announced |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/campus/university-of-otago/art-fellows-announced |access-date=4 November 2024 |publisher=Otago Daily Times |date=14 September 2016 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329114409/https://www.odt.co.nz/news/campus/university-of-otago/art-fellows-announced |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Fox |first1=Rebecca |title=Leaving notes for others |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/music/leaving-notes-others |access-date=4 November 2024 |publisher=Otago Daily Times |date=26 January 2017 |archive-date=16 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240216222422/https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/music/leaving-notes-others |url-status=live }}</ref> During the residency he composed ''Talking Earth'' for brass band.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Talking Earth - SOUNZ |url=https://sounz.org.nz/works/25362?locale=en |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=sounz.org.nz |archive-date=18 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518133000/https://sounz.org.nz/works/25362?locale=en |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2020 on the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth he received a commission from the Auckland Philharmonia and composed ''Disquiet'' for piano trio based on Beethoven's piano trio Op. 70 no. 2.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=March 2020 |title=Celebrating the symphonies that changed the world |url=https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE52185008 |journal=Express |page=12 |via=NDHA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Disquiet - SOUNZ |url=https://sounz.org.nz/works/25390 |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=sounz.org.nz |archive-date=22 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522133516/https://sounz.org.nz/works/25390 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Gendall has participated in a number of international festivals and conferences including the Wellesley Composers’ Conference, the Aspen Music Festival, the Britten-Pears Contemporary Composition programme, the Royaumont Voix Nouvelles Composition Course, and the Aldeburgh Festival and his works have been performed by orchestras and ensembles in New Zealand and elsewhere.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />
Gendall has also worked for RNZ as an assistant producer for the Upbeat programme.<ref name=":2" /> In 2018 he was president of the Composers Association of New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-03-13 |title=Music Feature: Chris Gendall, NZ Composers Association |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018635899/music-feature-chris-gendall-nz-composers-association |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=RNZ |language=en-nz}}</ref> He has also been a mentor for the NZSO National Youth Orchestra Composer in Residence in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2024, and for the NZSO Todd Young Composer Award in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chris Gendall |url=https://profiles.auckland.ac.nz/chris-gendall/professional |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=profiles.auckland.ac.nz}}</ref>
== Awards and honours == Gendall won two awards in 2005 and 2006: a New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Todd Young Composer Award and an ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award.<ref name=":2" />
In 2008 he won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award at the APRA Awards for ''Wax Lyrical.''<ref name=":3" />
== Selected works == * ''Visionnaire'' (2003) – for vocal soloists, SATB choir and piano * ''Bop'' (2003) – for solo trombone and chamber ensemble * ''Hand to hand'' (2005) – for percussion ensemble of six players * ''Agitato'' (2007) – for chamber orchestra * ''Gung-ho'' (2007) * ''Wax lyrical'' (2008) – for chamber ensemble * ''Suite for string orchestra'' (2009) * ''Gravitas'' (2011) – for orchestra * ''Three details'' (2012) – for guitar, pre-recorded electronics and 4-8 sustaining instruments * ''Triple concerto'' (2012) – for violin, cello, piano and orchestra * ''Incident: an opera in one act'' (2014) * ''The charm offensive'' (2014) – for soprano and orchestra * ''Choruses: for shō, recorder and koto'' (2015) * ''Violin concerto'' (2016) * ''Talking earth'' (2017) * ''Siteswap'' (2019) – for solo horn * ''Disquiet'' (2020) – for piano trio * ''Crazing'' (2021) – for violin and percussion
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://chrisgendall.com Chris Gendall's website] * [https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE88451235&dps_custom_att_1=emu Chris Gendall profile]. Audio recording in Alexander Turnbull Library, 2016
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gendall, Chris}} Category:21st-century New Zealand composers Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:Cornell University alumni