Biography
SHORT
Gemma Peacocke is a composer from Aotearoa New Zealand whose work spans a wide range of genres, including chamber music, orchestral works, and multimedia collaborations. Peacocke’s music frequently explores themes of identity, haunting, folklore, and feminism, combining contemporary classical elements with electronics and experimental techniques.
Peacocke is a co-founder of the Kinds of Kings composer collective, which aims to amplify underrepresented voices in new music. Peacocke’s music has been performed internationally, with significant performances by groups like Third Coast Percussion, eighth blackbird, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Rubiks Collective, and Alarm Will Sound. Her debut album, Waves & Lines, sets the powerful poetry of Afghan women in I Am the Beggar of the World, Pulitzer Prize-winner Eliza Griswold’s collection. Released on New Amsterdam in 2019, this haunting song cycle has been performed on stages from Roulette Intermedium and National Sawdust in New York to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and the Melbourne Recital Centre in Australia.
Peacocke lives in a very old farmhouse in a tiny town in central New Jersey with her family and her biggest fan, a gnashy standard poodle called Mila. She has a PhD from Princeton University and she spends as much time as possible in New Zealand.
LONG
Gemma Peacocke’s music blurs genres, weaving together chamber music, art-pop, electronic soundscapes, and orchestral power into something altogether her own. Peacocke’s music frequently explores themes of identity, haunting, folklore, and feminism, combining contemporary classical elements with electronics and experimental techniques. Her debut album, Waves & Lines, sets the powerful poetry of Afghan women in I Am the Beggar of the World, Pulitzer Prize-winner Eliza Griswold’s collection. Released on New Amsterdam in 2019, this haunting song cycle has been performed on stages from Roulette Intermedium and National Sawdust in New York to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and the Melbourne Recital Centre in Australia.
Peacocke’s works have found champions in some of today’s most fearless musicians, including Third Coast Percussion, Cincinnati Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Christchurch Symphony, eighth blackbird, percussionist Claire Edwardes, soprano Jenny Wollerman, pianist Henry Wong-Doe, flautist Hannah Darroch, HOCKET, PUBLIQuartet, Rubiks Collective, ~Nois, STROMA, and Alarm Will Sound.
As a founding member of Kinds of Kings, Peacocke is part of a dynamic collective praised by The New Yorker as “distinguished young creators who work in diverse styles.” The group amplifies under-heard voices in classical music, serving as National Sawdust Artists-in-Residence in 2019–20 and joining forces with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and eighth blackbird for Nine Mothers, a concerto that premiered in 2022. Their latest sonic adventure, Kinds of ~Nois, came out in 2024 on Bright Shiny Things.
Peacocke’s major works include White Horses—co-commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia and Christchurch Symphony, The Threshold We Cross with Closed Eyes, commissioned and premiered by Third Coast Percussion at the Library of Congress, and Don’t You Trust Me? commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia for brass and percussion. The Rochester Philharmonic premiered All on Fire in 2020. Other highlights include Skirl, unleashed by Alarm Will Sound, and Pacific, a choral epic brought to life by Wellington’s Tudor Consort.
Peacocke’s music also graces a constellation of albums, recorded by artists such as viola duo Tallā Rouge, Third Coast Percussion, pianist Henry Wong-Doe, soprano Jenny Wollerman, cellist Lavena Johanson, saxophonist Jose Zayas Caban, and trumpeter Kate Amrine.
Currently on faculty at NYU Steinhardt, she earned her Ph.D. (jointly in music and humanistic studies) at Princeton University. A voting member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs), she lives in an old farmhouse in a tiny town in central New Jersey with her family and a gnarly, gnashy standard poodle named Mila, who remains her most devoted (and opinionated) fan.