Composers & WorksSalina Fisher

Salina Fisher (b.1993) is an award-winning New Zealand composer quickly gaining international recognition for her unique creative voice. She is the youngest ever winner of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award Te Tohu Auaha (2016, 2017), and her works are frequently performed globally by leading musicians and ensembles. Her highly evocative music reflects her background as a multi-instrumentalist, her Japanese heritage, and her passion for collaboration, particularly with practitioners of taonga pūoro (traditional Māori instruments).

Her music has been commissioned by performers including New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Alexi Kenney, Auckland Philharmonia, Marmen Quartet, New Zealand String Quartet, NZTrio; and performed at venues including Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, Philharmonie Berlin, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and The Kennedy Center. Her music has appeared on recent/upcoming programmes by the New York Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, Hannover Staatsoper, Ulster, and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras, including with conductors Gemma New and Tianyi Lu.

After studying composition and violin at New Zealand School of Music – Te Kōkī, Salina received a Fulbright scholarship to study in New York where she was awarded the Carl Kanter Prize for Orchestral Composition. She has since been Composer-in-Residence at New Zealand School of Music (2019-2020), At the World’s Edge Festival (2021), and University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra (2023). She is the recipient of awards from The Arts Foundation, Edwin Carr Foundation, and Composers Association of New Zealand, and is currently a Teaching Fellow in Composition at NZSM.