Kim Kunio
Local
Professor Kim Cunio, Head of Te Kōkī, the New Zealand School of Music (2024-) and previous Head at the Australian National University is a composer interested in old and new music and the role of music in making sense of our larger world. Kim’s compositions have been played at the White House, United Nations, and concerts / festivals in many countries. Commissioning organisations include the Olympics, Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne International Arts Festival, and the Foundation for Universal Sacred Music (USA). Kim publishes and lectures on music in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and India. Kim has a large body of music that explores his Mizrachi and Sephardi Jewish heritage.
Session 1
The Thread of Life
In 2006 Kim Cunio led an intercultural project centred in New York brought musicians from Arabic and Eastern Jewish backgrounds together for a week of collaboration, rehearsal and recording. The result was The Thread of Life, a project that melded the distinction between music and culture, performance and worship. We will talk together, listen to some of this music and think about how shared identity can sustain us in our time of deep uncertainty.