Songbroker welcomes Richard Nunns

Songbroker is very proud to welcome Richard Nunns to the Composer catalogue.

Dr. Richard Nunns QSM is one of New Zealand’s most respected performers and researchers of Māori music and instruments. He has performed and recorded widely both within New Zealand and internationally and with a wide range of musical genres from Moana and the Moahunters, through jazz to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Richard began his research and collaboration with Hirini Melbourne in the 1990s. Their recordings for Rattle, Te Ku Te Whe and Te Hekenga-a-rangi, are regarded as seminal works of indigenous music.

Richard was made an honorary life member of the New Zealand Flute Association, and in 2001 was awarded the KBB Citation for Services to New Zealand Music presented by the Composers Association of New Zealand.

In 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Victoria University, and in 2009 a Queens Service Medal for services to Taonga Pūoru. He was admitted to the NZ Music Hall of Fame, and is an Artist Laureate of the NZ Arts Foundation.

Richard was, and always will be, one of Rattle Records’ most important and treasured collaborators. While his body of work is much greater than the albums he did with Rattle, the Rattle recordings are nevertheless, some of the most important and influential works of recorded art to come out of this country.

In 2017 Rattle released Utterance, an excellent album, made with David Long and Natalia Mann, that would prove to be his last recording. Soon after, Richard’s illness compelled him to pack his wonderful collection of Taonga Pūoro away permanently, instruments that for decades were an extension of his body, his breath, his heart, and his soul.

To listen to Richard Nunns head over to the Songbroker Search Engine.

Artist photo credit: Tim Cuff