Composer-in-Residence

Victoria Kelly is an award-winning composer based in Auckland, whose career has embraced the full spectrum of musical genres — including contemporary classical music, popular music, and music for film, television, theatre and dance. Victoria’s works have been commissioned, performed and recorded by New Zealand artists and performers including the NZSO, Auckland Philharmonia, Voices New Zealand, NZTrio, and the New Zealand String Quartet.

In 2023 her work Requiem for Soprano, Tenor, Mixed Choir, and Orchestra was premiered at the Auckland Arts Festival and won New Zealand’s most prestigious award for contemporary music — the SOUNZ Contemporary Award / Te Tohu Auaha.

In the popular music world, Victoria collaborates with a range of artists including Neil Finn (Out of Silence, Dizzy Heights, The Infinity Sessions), Tami Neilson (Neon Cowgirl, Kingmaker), and Finn Andrews / The Veils (Asphodels, And Out of the Void Came Love).

She has composed music for several films, television and theatre productions, including music for films by Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh (The Lovely Bones, The Hobbit), Robert Sarkies (Out of the Blue), and Jonathan King (Black Sheep, Under the Mountain) winning two New Zealand Film awards and the inaugural APRA award for Best Original Music in a Feature Film (for Field Punishment No. 1) in 2014.

In 2011 she was the Music Director for the Opening Ceremony of the Rugby World Cup. She has lectured, mentored and consulted throughout the country, and served as the Director of NZ Member Services at APRA AMCOS from 2016 to 2021. Most recently, her secular Stabat Mater for Orchestra and Mixed Choir received its world premiere by the NZSO in Wellington and Auckland.