Ivan ZAGNI

Ivan was born in Norwich, England in October, 1942. His first musical experience was as a boy chorister in the Norwich St John the Baptist Catholic Cathedral, then at 12 he took guitar lessons. From 1961-64 he was a member of the rock and roll band, The News, then from 1964-67 he worked as a freelance musician/composer in London. He toured the UK and Europe with the band, Jody Grind, from 1967-69 before joining Blue Whale with drummer, Aynsley Dunbar. He returned to Norwich in 1970 where he worked as the Choirmaster at St John the Baptist until 1977, where he composed a number of works for the cathedral. He returned to London in 1977 to experiment with free improvisation and performed and recorded with 3's Company and The Electric String Trio.

Ivan settled in New Zealand in 1980 where he worked for three decades as a freelance musician, teacher and composer. In the 80s he collaborated with Don McGlashan on the EP, Standards (Propellor Records, 1982) and released the LP A Selection of Trouble Spots (Ode Records, 1984, recently remixed and re-released as Trouble Spots on Rattle Echo) with Steve Garden, and was the musical director of a number of art-music initiatives such as Big Sideways (Feb 1983) and Avant Garage (Unsung Records, 1983). With Peter Scholes, Don McGlashan and Steve Garden he formed the short-lived art-music band, Safe As Houses, which led to a series of duo performances and recordings with Peter as Music on the Wall. The duo toured schools for the Music Federation of New Zealand in 1985. He was the Composer in Residence at Glenfield College in 1986 and the first Composer in Residence with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in 1989-90.

Throughout the 90s Ivan was primarily focused on composition. Migration No. 1 and Migration No. 2 were written for and performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and his critically acclaimed Breath of Hope was premiered by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. The Cospatrick Tragedy was commissioned for the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra and the concert at the Auckland Town Hall was recorded by Radio New Zealand in 1993.

String Quartet No.1, A View from my Window (1992) was composed during his residency with Chamber Music NZ in Wellington 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. In the mid-1990s Ivan moved to Northland where he continues to compose music, paint, and create other forms of art.