John Psathas

About the Artist

John Psathas is one of New Zealand’s most internationally acclaimed composers.

With performances in venues from Windsor Castle to Kalamazoo, Jakarta to Bermuda, Japan to Alaska, and Hong Kong to Tel Aviv, he has established and maintains an international reputation. His music is heard worldwide and is regularly performed throughout Europe, America, Australasia, and Asia.

John Psathas’ music has been performed by percussion superstar Evelyn Glennie, 11 time Grammy winner Michael Brecker, Joshua Redman, Pedro Carneiro, Michael Houstoun, Federico Mondelci, Orchestre Sinfonia Dell’Emilia-Romagna ‘Toscanini’, the Halle Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Blazers Ensemble, the New Juilliard Ensemble and many other performers, ensembles and orchestras. Psathas has written extensively for Evelyn Glennie, who, in her debut in the prestigious New York Great Performer’s Series devoted nearly half her program to his work.

Early success came with Matre’s Dance in 1991, a maximum-energy duet for percussion and piano that has since made Psathas’ name internationally through having been taken up and championed by Glennie. This work and Drum Dances have become standard repertoire for percussionists throughout the world. John’s relationship with Evelyn Glennie has been a particularly fruitful one for them both. Her repertoire includes Matre's Dance, Drum Dances, Spike, Happy Tachyons and the double concerto for piano and percussion, View from Olympus. She has recorded Matre's Dance on her CDs Drumming and Greatest Hits (BMG).