Hawke's Bay composer Dylan Lardelli has been granted a $15,000 scholarship to study composition in Europe and build an international profile.
The annual Edwin Carr Foundation Scholarship, administered by Creative New Zealand, commemorates late composer Edwin Carr and acknowledges his contribution to New Zealand music.
Established last year, it is the first
New Zealand scholarship to help outstanding composers further their studies.
Lardelli, 25, grew up in Hastings and is now based in Wellington. He was 15 when he took his first formal guitar lesson, and then went on to learn to play the cello. In 1997 he competed in the finals of the Westpac Chamber Music Contest for secondary school musicians in Wellington as a Hastings Boys' High School Year 13 pupil.
The following year, he started at Victoria University where he completed a Bachelor's degree in guitar performance and then gained a Master's degree in composition with distinction in 2003.
Lardelli won first prize in the 2003 Asian Composers League Young Composers Competition in Tokyo, and is the youngest composer to hold the position of composer-in-residence with the Auckland Philharmonia in 2003 and 2004.
He has received commissions from other leading orchestras and groups. His work, Tumbu, will be performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in September this year.
"I feel honoured to be the first recipient of this scholarship commemorating Edwin Carr, who highly valued the time he spent studying and working in Europe," Lardelli said last night.
As well as working with master composers Professor Dieter Mack in Germany and Stefano Bellon in Italy, Lardelli will attend major concerts and music festivals in Europe.
Arts Board chair Alastair Carruthers said it was a wonderful opportunity for Lardelli to work with world renowned European composers.
