C U R R I C U L U M V I TA E

PROFI LE
Frances Thorpe

13th of July 2000.

40 the terrace Wellington central

Violist

As a young child I grew up in a house of music and musicians and that influenced my
desire to perform music and surround myself within a professional orchestral
environment as an adult. I started piano lessons at 8 and violin lessons at 9 and
through myself vigorously into my music. During intermediate I was offered a position
in the rock band as a keyboardist and this started my interest in the broader
implications of music within society due to my reticence to play in the band because it
wasn’t classical music, that year was probably the most influential year in terms of my
musical growth at that point in my journey as a musician. Round this point I had first
started looking at the viola as a possible instrument I’d like to explore. I had a couple
lessons with violist Alex MacDonald to see how I liked the instrument and although I
enjoyed those lessons and wanted to take the instrument further I wasn’t given an
opportunity until year 11. In 2013 I spent a year in Germany during that year music was
one of the things that I could connect to the other people in my school over as it
bypassed the language barrier easily, this was my first experiences as an orchestral
musician and the first time I realised that the sense of collegiality and ensemble that I
find from orchestral music is something that I find exhilarating and intensely
encouraging. Returning to New Zealand in 2014 for highs school I was able to get into
extension music at Westlake boys high school and here I first started composing and
gaining a rhetorical interest in musical ideas. In my first year at Westlake I joined 2 extra
curricular music groups and although my performance ability was lacking compared to
the other students in my extension class I knew this was what I wanted to do. And while
my practical performance wasn’t quite up to scratch over the first couple of years at
Westlake my theoretical knowledge was well above the class level, my experiences
with composing in these two years are probably the second most important thing in
my development as a growing musician. During this time is had another talk with Alex
MacDonald about viola and life as a professional musician but I also saw Alex Taylor
and young contemporary NZ composer who when I expressed my taste of music and
my preconceptions and the limits I’d placed on my definition of "music" forced me to
reconsider my concept of music and it’s place in society. In year 11 I was given the
opportunity to skip straight to level 2 music and I was asked to play the viola for the
school chamber orchestra. By this time my concept of music and art had been vastly
broadened and the music that I was making both composition wise and performance
wise at this time was much more informed and experimental than it had been in the
past. I started playing around with how I could express myself and my feelings through
my music. Wether I was composing, performing, or improvising music had become
more than just a bunch of traditionalised preconceptions. Although only a year eleven
student I topped the level 2 music class and while the standard of my composition and
written work was higher than my performances I was quickly starting to narrow the
gap. In year 12 I went through level three as a performance paper with the violin still as
my instrument of performance even though I was playing the viola at this point in 2
premier Westlake groups and vastly preferred music as a violist than as a violinist. This
year I was also a member of 6 Westlake ensembles and the premier violist for the
Westlake production of Sweeney Todd. I came second in level three music among the
4 year thirteen musicians who went on to study music at uni. My marks in music and my
other subjects in year 12 gave me the thirds highest mark overall in my year but also
gave me enough credits to pass level three endorsed with excellence. Despite this I
returned to Westlake to redo level three mostly because of the upcoming Westlake
choir tour to Italy and also so I could complete the other half of the level three music
course in composition and attempt a NZQA scholarship in composition. During this
year my ability to use music to express and explore my identity helped me support
myself through my depression and helped me come to terms with my identity as a
transwoman. The intersectionality of my experience this year as a queer woman
musician at an upper class boys school taught me a lot about the issues of elitism and
general bigotry that is associated with the social presence of classical musician and
allowed me to take another hard look at the same things that Alex Taylor had told me
all those years ago when I was in year nine. As an instrumentalist and vocalist this year
was a massive step for me. I started full time viola lessons with APO violist Emma Dann
and was a senior member of every premier Westlake classical ensemble from the
Westlake concert band to the choir Choralation, to the Westlake symphony and
chamber orchestras. The choir tour to Italy gave me an opportunity to be a mentor and
role model to the younger musicians in the choirs and the 3 weeks we spent touring
Italy taught me a lot about music education and ensemble etiquette. That year at the
Auckland KBB festival I was principal violist of the KBB honours orchestra. Outside of
school groups I started to get bigger roles within Janice Webb’s studio and worked on
singing advanced diploma (didn’t sit in the end) and grade 8 viola (achieved with
distinction) with Emma Dann. For my composition and academic musician pursuits this
year I was able to get two of the works I composed for my scholarship and level three
portfolios performed by some of the best high school musicians in the country and I
spent as much time in the music department helping year nine to eleven students with
their assignments and compositions for their classes. I got the Westlake boys music
prize for excellence in composition at that years music graduation and was recognised
for my contributions as a leader among those 6 Westlake ensembles I was a senior
member of. I managed to attain level three music with excellence again and also
managed to get a NZQA music scholarship (moderated down from outstanding).

EXPER IENCE
NO RTH S H OR E YOU T H OR C HE ST RA — 2014-2016 ( CO N CE RTM ASTE R 2015)
Conducted by David Kay and part of the north shore youth music program.

W E ST L AK E TA HA R OTO SYM PHO N Y, WE ST L AK E SY MP H O N Y

2 0 15-2016, 20 1 7 - 2018
The two symphony orchestras of the combined Westlake schools conducted by Fiona
Knowles and David Squire respectively

WE ST L AK E B OY S VOI C E MA L E, WE ST L AK E GI RL S CHO RAL ATI O N 2 0 1 5 -2 0 1 8

Premier choir from Westlake boys conducted by the internationally recognised David Squire
and the premier combined choir of the two Westlakes conducted by Rohan Johnson

W E ST L AK E C H A M B ER O RCH E ST RA, CAME RATA — 2015-2018

The combine Westlake elite string orchestra conducted by APO first violinist Mark
Bennet and the Westlake boys string orchestra conducted by Warwick Robinson.
Principal violist of Westlake boys Camerata in 2017,2018 group leader in 2018.

W E ST L AK E CO NCE RT BAN D — 2017-2018

Premier combined Westlake concert band conducted by HOD of music at Westlake boys
Warwick Robinson. Senior percussionist in 2018.

TERTIARY AND FUTURE STUDY, FUTURE EMPLOYMENT

My aim for my tertiary music education is to complete my undergradute in Victoria and
the NZSM and graduate in 2023 with a bachelor of music with honours. And after that I
am looking to head to Europe to do further studies in German conservatories and to
look to find employment eventually in an European or American orchestra. While
completing my tertiary study I’d like to focus on my performance but I’d also like to
further explore the realms of representation in music and how the gender balance in
academic discourse of composers and of historical figures affects young women
musicians. And also explore ways in which Eurocentrism has affected how we think
about music in culture and music as culture. After University the end goal for me is to
become an orchestral musician wether as a pit player or as a concert orchestral violist.
And although the idea of trying to make it as a soloist and concert musician is
something that would allow me to be a role model and a representation of the
possibilities to other young queer musicians I am reminded every time I play in an
ensemble that that is why I fell in love with music and that sense of collegiality and
connectivity that you can only experience within orchestras and chamber music is why I
am here and I’d be doing a disservice to myself if I let myself forget that.

REFER ENCE S
Warwick Robinson HOD of music at Westlake Boys high school

wrobinson@westlake.school.nz

+64 1 104 9289

Frances is an exceptionally talented musician who has been able to turn

her hand to many different disciplines in music, including singing,
composition, musicology, violin, viola and piano playing. She has
performed with the highly acclaimed Voicemale and Choralation choirs,
as well as with the Westlake Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra
and Concert Band as well as with Camerata String. Her music awards
have included have included multiple gold, platinum and best
performance awards from the 2016 -2018 KBB and Big Sing festivals.
She also performed in the school production of Sweeney Todd in 2017.
Janice Webb. Q.S.M.,L.R.S.M.,ADV.DIP.TCH.
janice.webb@xtra.co.nz
09 418 1615

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

It was my great pleasure and privilege to teach singing to Frances Thorpe in

the later years of her secondary school education 2016-2018.

In these years she was deeply involved in the prestigious Westlake Boy's choirs
from 2015-2018, showcasing at Big Sing and Voicemail winning the Leonardo
da Vinci choral festival Grand Prix In Italy.

She possesses so many qualities a teacher treasures, infectious enthusiasm,

self motivation, high intelligence, a  questioning mind, joy of performing  with
others and a deep passion and devotion to music .

She has an exceptional beauty of tone in her singing voice and loved
challenging herself to work on very difficult repertoire. She achieved
distinction in Grade 6 in 2016, but her choral trip to Italy meant she was unable
to sit the Trinity Advanced Certificate as we had planned to. Should she wish to
pursue further learning in voice, I am sure she has the potential to become a
professional singer.