Ivan Zagni

Ivan Zagni is a New Zealand-based musician and composer who has been a member of bands such as Jody Grind, Big Sideways and Avant Garage, and has recorded albums with Aynsley Dunbar, Elton Dean, Don McGlashan and Peter Scholes.

From the mid-1980s Zagni received a succession of orchestral commissions. In 1986 Zagni and Peter Scholes' work together was the subject of the Radio New Zealand Concert programme Music on the Wall. He composed Migration Nos 1 and 2 (1988) for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In 1989, while he was the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's first composer in residence, a position funded by the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, he was commissioned to compose Breath of Hope, which is notable for its references to New Zealand nature. Critic William Dart described Breath of Hope as "a historical and spiritual journey down the Waikato." The Cospatrick Tragedy, commissioned for New Zealand Chamber Orchestra, was recorded at a live concert at the Auckland Town Hall in 1993 by Radio New Zealand, one of many Zagni performances recorded by the national broadcaster.

Zagni's String Quartet No.1 (1992), A View from my Window, was composed in Wellington during his residency with Chamber Music NZ, and premiered by the New Zealand String Quartet. Quartet No.1 was also performed by the Mosaic Quartet in 1995 for Auckland City's Arts Alive programme. Devonport, his third string quartet, was commissioned for the Devonport Arts Festival on Auckland's North Shore, and premiered in 1994 – it was described by Dart as having "a cluster of minor tonalities" at its core. In the mid-1990s he withdrew from public life for a period of recuperation.

In 2003 Zagni was reunited with members of Blam Blam Blam/Big Sideways/Avant Garage to record with Tim Mahon's The Moth on the album Music From A Lightbulb.[17] That year he was also the focus of a Radio New Zealand 'Musical Chairs' documentary.[18] Several compositions were featured in the Auckland Chamber Orchestra's 2005 season, including his clarinet concerto 'The Koeakoea',[19] performed in full for the first time after the 1987 Wellington premiere left out the violins.[20] His graphic scores featured in exhibitions at the Audio Foundation in 2011 and the Gus Fisher Gallery in 2012, both accompanied by low-key performances.

Zagni was Composer in Residence at Glenfield College for six months in 1986. He was inaugural Composer in Residence with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in 1989–90 and Composer in Residence with Chamber Music New Zealand in 1992. Awards include major grants from QEII Arts Council in 1984, 1988, and 1990.