Music Industry News

Pianist Lee Martelli-Wood never thought when she was practising Microjazz pieces as a child that one day she would not only meet the composer, but sightread duets with him at a conference, and then end up touring his music!

The 25th anniversary of one of our key initiatives driving focus, support, and engagement with our own New Zealand music, was just too important a milestone to let go by. After presenting some online concerts to cheer friends during Lockdown, Lee found many different people liked Christopher Norton’s music. Particularly his Rock and Latin Preludes!

The idea of creating a mini-tour of this great New Zealand music around five Auckland venues was conceived last year, and Lee was lucky to be supported via Auckland Council’s Creative Communities Scheme:
“This is the first time I have been funded as a solo artist. I have managed a wide range of funding and projects for other people, but never my own personal work. It has been an interesting journey seeing the project grow, working with venues and partners, and I very much look forward to presenting the pieces in concert soon.” says Lee.

SOUNZ, the Centre for NZ Music is supporting this project by publishing in a booklet the winning pieces in the young composers’ competition that Lee is running as part of this project. New pieces by young composers will be selected by Christopher Norton and played by Lee at the concerts:
“We’re delighted to be able to support the Play our Preludes initiative. It’s wonderful to see this entrepreneurial project appear as a way of creating a set of new works for solo piano, while supporting our emerging compositional talent here in Aotearoa. We’re excited to hear the results, and it’s wonderful to know that these young composers will have their new works performed multiple times across Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s even better knowing that there’ll be a life for these works for generations to come, played by countless hands, as SOUNZ will distribute the sheet music through our website for anyone who’s interested in delving into the preludes themselves.”

In tandem with celebrating NZ Music, the project has a NZ fashion partner Federation who will support with clothing for the pianist. Federation is a beloved New Zealand label based in Auckland, that Lee describes as being in sync with her own sense of independent style.

Lee Martelli-Wood is a professional pianist, regularly performing at retirement villages and accompanying brass musicians and singers. Twice awarded Accompanist of the Year by NZBBA, Lee has toured nationally and internationally supporting soloists. Lee enjoys playing a wide range of music, especially fond of jazz and Latin rhythms, great melodies, and music theatre. Lee served as the national music adviser at Creative New Zealand, after spending 13 years directing education programmes at the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. Lee began her career as a high school music teacher, and her first council funding she achieved supported a recording of original pieces by Green Bay High School students. With a Masters of Music (Hons) Lee comes from a family of musicians with a mother who is a piano teacher and soloist, a father who tries to emanate Acker Bilk on the clarinet, and a daughter who plays the flugel and just won Vocalist of the Year at her high school.

Christopher Norton studied music at the University of Otago and appeared as a piano soloist with the NZSO. He was also a music teacher and played keyboard in a rock band. Christopher went to the UK from Aotearoa on scholarship to York University to study composition. Here he played in a wide variety of different bands and ensembles and started to combine all his experience into an eclectic style of his own.
In 1983 Christopher was signed by Boosey & Hawkes and published his first Microjazz books. The Microjazz series broadened out to all sorts of instruments and is now the best-selling music series at Boosey & Hawkes, having sold over a million copies to date. Christopher lectures all around the world and writes educational booklets for young people. In addition, he has sold more than 1 million copies of gospel music collections.

Success in this project looks like welcoming large audiences to the five free concerts, which will conclude with audience members being able to play percussion along with Lee on the piano.

Check out all things Play Our Preludes below:
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