BRIDGET DOUGLAS

Born in Dunedin, Bridget is Section Principal Flute of the NZSO and an Artist Teacher in Flute at the New Zealand School of Music, Te Kōkī. She graduated from Victoria and Otago Universities before travelling to the USA for postgraduate study with the assistance of a Fulbright Graduate Award. While in New York Bridget won the New York Flute Club and Artists International Competitions resulting in debut recitals at Carnegie and CAMI Halls.

Bridget mentors young musicians throughout NZ and is passionate about collaborative ways of making music. She is a founding member of the contemporary music ensemble Stroma and enjoys playing a diverse range of chamber music. She is actively involved in performing and commissioning works by composers unique to Aotearoa. She has released several albums, three of which were shortlisted in the Best Classical category of the NZ Music Awards, and in 2020 was awarded the CANZ (Composers Association of NZ) KBB Citation for Services to NZ Music..

ALISTAIR FRASER

Born in Dunedin, where he learnt to play drums and guitar prior to moving to Wellington in 1994 to study jazz guitar at Massey University and attain a Bachelor of Music in 2000, Al (Pākehā) is a manu whakatangitangi a ngā taonga pūoro. He has been making, performing and composing with these musical instruments since 1999, elegantly weaving taonga pūoro into many projects that are at the forefront of Aotearoa arts practice and puoro Māori.

He has featured on seven Rattle releases since 2018, Shearwater Drift, Ponguru, Panthalassa, Mixed Messages, Nau Mai E Kā Hua, Exiles, and his solo debut, Toitū Te Pūoro. He and Riki Gooch released Rangatira in 2020, and as a member of the ensemble Tararua he released Bird Like Men in 2021. Al was a researcher for Hokotehi Moriori Trust and Otago University from 2017-2020, researching Moriori musical instrument culture. He has completed two research trips to the United Kingdom and Ireland to investigate taonga pūoro held in collections there, one in 2015 and one in 2016 as a Churchill Fellow.