Music scholarships create rich opportunities

Linda Dallimore was one of two recipients who shared the Edwin Carr Foundation Scholarship. Linda is working towards a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Southern California (USC), USA.

Linda is combining her programme of study with teaching, as well as settling her young family in Los Angeles. 

“It is just amazing to be here, surrounded by phenomenal music, musicians, and composers. I go to at least one Los Angeles Philharmonia concert most weeks and they are mind-blowingly good, with contemporary programming. Fantastic composers pass through all the time - we've seen Nico Muhly, Gabriella Ortiz already this year, and Anders Hillborg is coming soon,” Linda says.

Linda is already noticing a change in her work.

“I've made most progress on exploring, knowing and trusting my compositional voice. My style has really evolved since I arrived and my music sounds different, in a good way! I'm most proud of a vocal sextet I wrote recently, called We Miss You Down Here, written as a homage to a dear composer friend Sarah Gibson, who passed away recently. It was an unexpected and delightful musical journey to go on, under the tutelage of one of the amazing teachers here, Don Crockett, who was also Sarah's teacher,” she says. 

Another moment of pride came from conducting an orchestra performing the first movement of Beethoven's symphony No.2, from memory, which seemed insurmountably difficult until she actually did it. A future challenge is scoring a new short film, a very LA activity!

Other opportunities have come in the form of teaching positions. 

“I'm Guest Faculty with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Composer Fellowship Program this season, and I’ve joined the Faculty in Music Theory and Ear Training at The Colburn School. Both are dream jobs, working in the exact areas I'm passionate about, and I'm humbled and energised by these pathways, which have opened up as a direct result of being here.”

On the other side of the ledger, the cost of living is high. Over 90% of her USC teaching assistantship stipend is spent on daycare for her children and rent is much higher than it was in Auckland. She saved hard to be there and appreciates the scholarship support, but notes, “It still feels fairly financially tenuous and it's stressful not being sure whether student life will be financially viable over the next three years.”

Elizabeth Hocking 

Elizabeth Hocking shared the Edwin Carr Foundation Scholarship. Elizabeth is working towards completion of the Performer-Composer Master's degree at the New School in New York

Elizabeth describes her first six months in New York as absolute rollercoaster, nevertheless, she has fallen in love with the city - the good bits and the bad! 

“I’ve been lucky enough to meet some incredible musicians already during my time here and am really enjoying getting out and about to jam sessions and seeing some mind-blowing gigs. A recent highlight was seeing a hero of mine, Elena Pinderhughes, play with Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah at Bluenote, which is just down the road from school,” Elizabeth says. 

The teachers in her first semester have been inspirational, including Dave Glasser, Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Caroline Davis, Jane Ira Bloom and Alexa Tarantino.

“It's been particularly special getting to study with female teachers for the first time in my music career so far, particularly women who are such extraordinary thinkers, improvisers and collaborators in the scene. My peers at school are also amazing performers, composers and improvisers doing inspiring cross-genre music-making, and I feel very lucky to have found such a caring and creative community in my cohort and at the school more generally,” she says.

“There's lots of flexibility in my programme too, which means I am able to geek out on all the things I've wanted to study in depth for ages, ranging from contemporary orchestration to a deep dive into the music of Ornette Coleman, to film scoring.”

Zephyr Wills 

Zephyr Wills was awarded the 2024 Jack McGill Music Scholarship towards the fees for an Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music in London. His ambition is a career in professional music, and he’s taking the many performing and networking opportunities being presented to him. 

“My first few months at the Royal College of Music have been tremendously inspiring, particularly within the realm of chamber music. I've performed with the Brodsky String Quartet and Ensemble 360 at Wigmore Hall,” Zephyr says. 

He's currently preparing to perform with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective for the Royal College of Music Chamber Festival, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. 

“I'm looking forward to collaborating with, and learning from, more world-class musicians over the next few months, including the Sacconi String Quartet, who I am scheduled to perform with in May,” he says.

Zephyr hopes to continue with these networking opportunities once his studies are complete. He’s also preparing for orchestra auditions, including for the Sinfonia Smith Square ensemble in London, and the Glyndebourne Sinfonia fellowship. 

“I am so thankful to Creative New Zealand and the Jack McGill scholarship for helping to provide the educational platform that is enabling all these incredible opportunities and ambitions to flourish. It truly is making a tremendous difference in my professional career.”