Thomas Bedggood
Thomas Bedggood was born in 2001, and started musical studies in 2009 playing the violin. Thomas has had a deep-rooted curiosity and fascination with music, which led him to start composing soon before starting University. He started a double major in New Music and Performance at the University of Canterbury in 2018, having received a junior scholarship to study under Professor Mark Menzies the year previously. He currently works under the guidance of Professors Mark Menzies and Reuben de Lautour, and has just completed the second year of his MusB.
Thomas has an interest in ethnomusicology and cultural influences within musical works, both classical and contemporary. His Volkstanze no. 3 Djupblå received a Lilburn Award in 2018, and is part of a cycle of short violin works that explore musical material from Eastern and Northern Europe.
As well as these solo works, Thomas enjoys writing for varied ensembles and genres, and learning the range of possibilities inherent in different instruments, pushing the boundaries of what an instrument can do. In 2019, his work Two Prisms for violin, cello, clarinet and guitar was written for the Argonaut Ensemble when Thomas took part in the BIFEM Reo Hou Future Voices of New Zealand project in Australia. This work subsequently received a Lilburn Award.
(Updated February 2020)
