Kiwi Appointed Director of NZSO’s New Recording Studios
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra has appointed the Director of its state-of-the-art Te Ngākau Recording Studios, which will open in Te Whare Whakarauika Wellington Town Hall next February.
New Zealander Claire Wackrow, currently the NZSO’s London-based consultant for recording and commercial ventures, has extensive experience in live performance and in the recording and film industries in Aotearoa and overseas.
“This is an exciting and unique opportunity to meaningfully grow Aotearoa’s capacity in the scoring realm, and I feel hugely fortunate to have witnessed from the sidelines Te Ngākau Recording Studios as it transitioned from idea to reality over the past few years,” says Claire.
“The care and dedication that has been poured into this incredible investment in the future of music making in our country by my colleagues in the Te Whare Whakarauika Wellington Town Hall build project is remarkable. It is a fantastic space that we cannot wait to open and share.”
Claire joined the NZSO in 2019 after working for almost a decade with some of the UK’s leading orchestras, artists and cultural organisations.
“My career to date has been defined by ambitious and complex projects focused on intersecting orchestras with other artforms and spaces, bringing orchestral music to as many people as possible, and supporting the creation of new work. I can’t think of a better platform to continue growing this personal focus than Te Ngākau Recording Studios where new music and collaboration will be at the very core of what we do.
“I look forward to continuing to work alongside Aotearoa’s awesome creative community and welcoming international talent in this landmark space to capture music for use in screen, symphonic and contemporary projects.”
The Director position attracted enormous interest in New Zealand and around the world when it was advertised.
Claire’s skills, industry expertise and vast global network were seen as crucial to growing the commercial client roster of one of the most advanced recording studios in the Southern Hemisphere over the coming years.
Her appointment follows that of acclaimed British sound engineer Matt Jones in April as Te Ngākau Recording Studios’ Principal Audio Engineer.
Matt had spent more than a decade at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios, most recently as Senior Recordist. Since his arrival in Wellington, Matt has overseen test recordings, which have included utilising the restored Town Hall’s acoustically celebrated Adam Auditorium, in preparation for the Studios’ much-anticipated official opening in February.
Since joining the NZSO, Claire has played an important part in developing and managing the NZSO’s commercial projects, with a specific focus on recordings and live collaborations. These have included sold-out performances with award-winning artist TEEKS, and the NZSO recording soundtracks for the hit films A Minecraft Movie, Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie, and Wish Dragon.
Her prior work in the UK included Sinfonia Smith Square, where she developed and delivered programmes in partnership with organisations including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Royal Opera House and the BBC Concert Orchestra. At the prestigious BBC Proms, she coordinated complex interdisciplinary concerts before joining Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance’s Learning and Participation team to project-manage large-scale projects such as the Mayor of London’s Teach Through Music initiative while maintaining a diverse freelance portfolio.
She also excelled in the world of contemporary and commercial music with the UK’s celebrated Heritage Orchestra, where she managed premiere non-classical live performances across the UK, Europe, Los Angeles and Australia, and supported the recording of several major releases, including iconic dance music DJ Pete Tong’s UK Number 1 album Classic House.
Main Photo Credit: Te Ngākau Recording Studios by Phoebe Cassidy
