Jason Wright
Composer
Jason Wright is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington and is a Composer and Sound Artist working across Dance, Theatre, Film, Installation and Visual Art. Wright’s acclaimed work has been performed both nationally and internationally and has been included in collaborations with many of Aotearoa’s leading dance and theatre makers. A graduate of Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music, Jason holds a Master of Music in Sonic Arts and Composition.
Co-founder of dance-theatre company Muscle Mouth, Jason produced scores for AGE, New Zealand Festival 2014; their acclaimed production Triumphs and Other Alternatives, 2015; The Weight of Force, Hong Kong Arts Festival, M1 Contact Dance Festival, 2016; Borderline – A double-bill collaboration between Muscle Mouth and T.H.E Dance Company Singapore, M1 Contact Dance Festival, 2017; System, Tempo Dance Festival, NZ Fringe Festival, 2019 and As It Stands, a commission from the Auckland Arts Festival, 2019.
A key collaborator with Arts Laureate Ross McCormack, Jason created the music for SEX, Footnote Dance 2012; Rāhui, Unitec 2012; Area, Unitec 2015; Visions of Salome, M1 Contact Dance Festival Singapore 2015; Preface: Homage to a Risk, New Zealand School of Dance 2015; Matter, New Zealand Dance Company, 2016; The Clearing, Footnote New Zealand Dance (Winner Best Sound Design, Wellington Theatre Awards), 2019; re:structure, New Zealand School of Dance, 2019 and Method in collaboration with H2Q Art Vietnam, 2019.
Working with dance, Jason has designed sound for Strive, Footnote New Zealand Dance 2013; Just Bet/ween Us, ChoreoCo 2015; eye, Brothers & Sisters Collective, 2015; Intuition, 2017; Vessel, T.H.E Dance Company Singapore, 2017; Creeper, Sydney Dance Company, 2019; This, Footnote New Zealand Dance, 2020; Uku - Behind the Canvas, New Zealand Dance Company, 2020 and If These Walls... Footnote New Zealand Dance, 2020.
Creator and curator of the Low Noise Exhibition series, Parliament 2013, Toi Pōneke 2015; these group shows featured sound installations Installation for Inward and Outward Facing Speaker Cones and Black Series. Other sound installation work includes, Jukebox at the Adam Art Gallery 2011; Interview with Mute, Matchbox Gallery 2012; When Bertha Sings, Nyco Chocolate factory 2013; sound design for Muscle Mouth’s multi-media installations Tiger and Another Garden at Enjoy Gallery 2015 and recent solo exhibitions Black Series II, The Auricle 2015; an Artifact of Mass, Audio Foundation, 2016 and rauropi [ I II III ], Toi Pōneke Art Gallery, 2019.
Work for theatre includes Shu’s Song by Capital E National Theatre for Children (Nominated for Best Music Composition, Wellington Theatre Awards), 2016; Versions of Allah by Ohokomo productions, 2016; The Fence, Brothers & Sisters Collective (Nominated for Best Sound Design, Wellington Theatre Awards), 2016; Sound Design - World of Wearable Arts, 2017; Force Field, Everybody Cool Lives Here (Winner of Best Overall Production Design, Auckland Fringe), 2018; Odd One Out, Capital E National Theatre for Children, 2018; The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Toi Whakaari, 2018; Working On My Night Moves, Julia Croft and Nisha Madhan, 2019; Inferno, Inside Out Productions, 2019; Girl in the Loft, 2020 and Terrapolis by Julia Croft, 2021.