Best Original Score awarded to former student
Posted on November 27, 2020
Former Macleans College student and Auckland-based composer Claire Cowan (Rutherford House 1997 – 2001) won the award for Best Original Score at the 2020 New Zealand Television Awards.
The award was in recognition of her work on Runaway Millionaires – the story of Kara Hurring and Leo Gao, a New Zealand couple who went on the run after an extraordinary sum of money was mistakenly deposited into their bank account. Made with the support of NZ On Air, Runaway Millionaires premiered on TVNZ 1 in September 2019 and is now available on TVNZ OnDemand.
Whilst studying a Bachelor of Music at The University of Auckland Claire received numerous commissions and awards from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the NZSO National Youth Orchestra. In 2006 she graduated with Honours and then pursued a career in music for concert, film and theatre.
In 2017 Claire won a Silver Scroll for her first TV series soundtrack “Hillary” and was awarded the APRA Professional Development Award for Film and TV music. In 2019 Claire became the first woman to compose a score for the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Her score for the Christmas production of Hansel and Gretel was written for a 50 piece orchestra and was performed live by NZ’s top regional orchestras.
More recently, in the July school holidays the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra released four picture book films, accompanied by music composed by Claire. In October, Claire was a finalist for the APRA Best Original Music in a Series award at the 2020 Silver Scrolls for her work on TVNZ series One Lane Bridge.
On 9 December, Claire will be releasing an album of her work recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra from the Hansel and Gretel ballet. Follow her Facebook page for further details.
Former Macleans College student and Auckland-based composer Claire Cowan (Rutherford House 1997 – 2001) won the award for Best Original Score at the 2020 New Zealand Television Awards.
The award was in recognition of her work on Runaway Millionaires – the story of Kara Hurring and Leo Gao, a New Zealand couple who went on the run after an extraordinary sum of money was mistakenly deposited into their bank account. Made with the support of NZ On Air, Runaway Millionaires premiered on TVNZ 1 in September 2019 and is now available on TVNZ OnDemand.
Whilst studying a Bachelor of Music at The University of Auckland Claire received numerous commissions and awards from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the NZSO National Youth Orchestra. In 2006 she graduated with Honours and then pursued a career in music for concert, film and theatre.
In 2017 Claire won a Silver Scroll for her first TV series soundtrack “Hillary” and was awarded the APRA Professional Development Award for Film and TV music. In 2019 Claire became the first woman to compose a score for the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Her score for the Christmas production of Hansel and Gretel was written for a 50 piece orchestra and was performed live by NZ’s top regional orchestras.
More recently, in the July school holidays the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra released four picture book films, accompanied by music composed by Claire. In October, Claire was a finalist for the APRA Best Original Music in a Series award at the 2020 Silver Scrolls for her work on TVNZ series One Lane Bridge.
On 9 December, Claire will be releasing an album of her work recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra from the Hansel and Gretel ballet. Follow her Facebook page for further details.
Runaway Millionaires
Hillary
Royal New Zealand Ballet's Hansel and Gretel
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Storytime