Anton Killin

Anton Killin (b. 1986) is a Wellington-based composer of instrumental and electroacoustic music. Anton is a founding member of SMP Ensemble; a member of three Wellington-based gamelan ensembles, Gamelan Padhang Moncar (Javanese), Gamelan Taniwha Jaya (Balinese) and Gamelan First Smile (Cirebon); and a member of several Wellington-based alternative bands (including Keller Kinder, Halva Eve, and Improv Noise Band). Under the tutelage of Jack Body and Michael Norris, Anton completed his MMus in Composition at the New Zealand School of Music. In 2012 Anton began PhD studies in the Philosophy Department of Victoria University of Wellington (supervised by Stuart Brock and Kim Sterelny) under a Victoria Doctoral Scholarship. His thesis looks at ontological and evolutionary explanations of music. Anton has had works performed or workshopped by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand String Quartet, SMP Ensemble, Gamelan Padhang Moncar and Gamelan Taniwha Jaya (including at the 2007 International Gamelan Festival in Yogyakarta, Java), Paul Doornbusch, yangqin player Wang Hui, and guitarist Dylan Lardelli. Anton’s mixed chamber group piece, 'Two Moments', was performed under the baton of Dutch maestro Lucas Vis in March 2010. Anton is the recipient of the 2005 Indonesian Gamelan Prize (Victoria University of Wellington), the 2008 Max Julian Prize for Ethnomusicology (New Zealand School of Music), and a 2011 J. L. Stewart Postgraduate Scholarship (Victoria University of Wellington). Anton co-convened the annual CANZ Nelson Composers Workshop with Carol Shortis in 2010 and 2011, after attending as a participant in 2009.

His works are lodged with SOUNZ The Centre for New Zealand Music at http://sounz.org.nz/contributor/composer/1749