Celeste Oram (SGCNZ NSSP 2006 & 2007, SGCNZ YSC 2007)

Celeste Oram attended Diocesan School for Girls (2001-2007), was selected for SGCNZ NSSP in 2006 as an actor and in 2007 as the Composer-in-Residence, and was a member of the SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company in 2007.

Celeste is now active as a composer based in New York City. Frequently working with close collaborators and across creative disciplines, Celeste’s works encompass instrumental writing, song & speech, electronics, visual media, theatre, and improvisation. Recent projects include orchestral scores for dance-theatre works with choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith (“Marie”, Theater Basel, 2023; “Pit”, Opéra National de Paris, 2023; “Pierre”, Royal Danish Ballet, 2021); an experimental radio play created with Ensemble Adapter (Berlin/Reykjavík) and premiered at Berlin’s Ultraschall Festival in 2022; and a concerto for solo improvisor, three voices, and orchestra written for violinist Keir GoGwilt and the La Jolla Symphony in 2019. Celeste was a finalist in the 2020 & 2014 SOUNZ Contemporary Award for excellence in New Zealand composition, received the 2017 CANZ Trust Fund Award, and the 2016 Kranichstein Composition Prize from the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music, whose jury described her work as ‘strangely entertaining… engaging with history in a striking manner’ and ‘utterly relevant’. She holds a PhD in composition from the University of California, San Diego, and is an alumna of the University of Auckland.