Claire Cowan is a New Zealand musician, composer and orchestrator, working across television, film, ballet and chamber music. In 2024 she was awarded the status of Arts Laureate by the

Arts Foundation of New Zealand The Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi is a New Zealand arts organisation that supports artistic excellence and facilitates private philanthropy through raising funds for the arts and allocating it to New Zealand artists. The foundatio ...

Education

Cowan completed an honours degree in composition at the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

Career

Cowan became the first New Zealand woman composer to score a full-length ballet, when she adapted ''Hansel and Gretel'' for the

Royal New Zealand Ballet The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a ballet company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was originally known as The New Zealand Ballet Company. History New Zealand Ballet was established in 1953 as an independent charitable trust by Royal Danis ...

in 2019. She also composed ''Cinderella'' for the RNZB and ''Possum Magic'' for the

Australian Ballet School The Australian Ballet School is the premier ballet training facility in Australia, located in Melbourne. History The Australian Ballet School was founded in 1964 as the primary training facility for The Australian Ballet by Dame Margaret Scot ...

. Cowan has orchestrated work for a number of popular musicians, including

Benee Stella Rose Bennett (born 30 January 2000), better known as Benee (stylised in all caps; pronounced ) and formerly Bene, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter from Auckland. In both 2019 and 2020, she consecutively won Single of the Year, Bes ...

Tami Neilson Tamara "Tami" Neilson is a Canadian-born New Zealand country & soul singer/songwriter. She is the winner of multiple awards, including the 2014 APRA Silver Scroll Awards and Best Country Song Award; she is also the winner of the Best Country Alb ...

and

Dave Dobbyn Sir David Joseph Dobbyn (born 3 January 1957) is a New Zealand musician, singer–songwriter and record producer. In his early career he was a member of the rock group Th' Dudes and was the main creative force in pop band DD Smash. Since then h ...

. She was commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to write a series of eight chamber works to accompany New Zealand storybooks.

Critical assessments

Cowan has been described as "one of New Zealand's most prolific composers".

Honours and awards

In 2024 Cowan was awarded the Joanna Hickman, Waiwetu Trust Award, making her one of the Arts Foundation's Arts Laureates. Cowan has several Best TV Soundtrack awards, and an

APRA Silver Scroll The APRA Music Awards are several annual and two-yearly award ceremonies run in New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills of its members. APRA hold the annual Silver Scroll Awards and song awards, ...

, awarded for her work a miniseries about

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the Timeline of M ...

. She has written music for series ''

One Lane Bridge ''One Lane Bridge'' is a New Zealand crime drama television series, premiering on TVNZ 1 in 2020. The series stars Dominic Ona-Ariki as Ariki Davis, a newcomer detective, Joel Tobeck as Stephen Tremaine, his superior, and Alison Bruce as Trema ...

'', and won Best Original Score at the 2020

New Zealand Television Awards New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...

for her work on ''Runaway Millionaires''. At the 2021

Aotearoa Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

she was named Best Classical Artist. In 2023 Cowan won the grand prize at the Oticons Faculty International Film Music Contest. She was awarded a Performing Arts Network Aotearoa New Zealand (PANNZ) FAME Mid-Career Award in 2024.

References

External links

*
Claire Cowan, composer and multi-instrumentalist – 2024 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate
', 18 October 2024, via YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Claire 21st-century New Zealand composers University of Auckland alumni Living people Date of birth missing (living people) 21st-century New Zealand women composers New Zealand television composers Women television composers Year of birth missing (living people)