Photo by Susanna Hancock

Gemma Peacocke is a composer from Aotearoa (New Zealand). She has a particular interest in interdisciplinary projects. Her first album, Waves & Lines, which sets poems by Afghan women, was released on New Amsterdam in March 2019. 

Gemma is co-founder of the Kinds of Kings composer collective which is focused on amplifying and advocating for under-heard voices in classical music. A joint Ph.D. candidate in Music and Humanistic Studies at Princeton University, Gemma previously studied with Julia Wolfe at NYU Steinhardt and at the New Zealand School of Music.

Gemma has been commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Third Coast Percussion, PUBLIQuartet, Bang on a Can, Rubiks Collective, Stroma, and Alarm Will Sound. She lives in Princeton with her family and her biggest fan, a standard poodle called Mila. She also spends as much time as possible in New Zealand.

About her piece Death Wish (2017), Peacocke writes: 

“I wrote Death Wish after watching a short film featuring New Zealand survivors of sexual assault. One of the survivors, Hinewirangi Kohu-Morgan, spoke about the out-of-control spiraling of her life for many years and how she developed what she called a ‘death wish.’ In the piece I thought about the spooling and unspooling of energy and how we are all bound and driven by forces both within and beyond ourselves.

“With the greatest of respect for Hinewirangi Kohu-Morgan who has used her life to create art and music and to help survivors of abuse and those who have perpetrated abuse.

“I ōrea te tuātara ka patu ki waho. Aroha nui.”

Death Wish appears on Third Coast Percussion’s newest album Between Breaths, alongside music composed by Tyondai Braxton, Missy Mazzoli, Ayanna Woods, and Third Coast Percussion, released in September 2023 on Cedille Records.

Duration: 10 minutes