About…

Jake Church is a classically trained guitarist based in Wellington (NZ) that aims to evoke character in everything he plays. Along with numerous performance accolades, he is a scholar in collaborative practices with a Masters of Musical Arts from Victoria University of Wellington. He enjoys exploring collaborative processes to create new-music and mix-discipline compositions. Jake has been teaching guitar since 2016. In 2021, Jake launched ‘Kākā Guitār’.

Jake’s current composition and performance project is “Jake & Anita” (J&A). Along with Anita Hutchins, they combine music and dance to explore task-based mix-discipline compositional processes.

Other recent performances for Jake includes accompanying chamber choir ‘Nota Bene’ for their end of year Christmas programme. The performance was based on South-American music and around the piece “Navidad Nuestra” and was held from St Joseph’s Church. This was followed by a live performance on Radio New Zealand (RNZ), where Jake accompanied Nota Bene and performed his arrangement of Franz Gruber’s “Stille Nacht” (Silent Night).

In 2024, J&A performed their show “VERBS” as part of the Fringe Festival Wellington at the Thistle Hall Gallery. This show was a mix-discipline performance containing music, dance and live drawing derived from film photography taken from around Wellington in the summer. Their aim was to create a show with longer narrative than what they usually do and give people the chance to stumble upon an event (a concept they coined as ‘Found Art’. The show was 45 min and free to passers by to give the sense of ‘Found Art’.

Other J&A performances include releasing and performing music through their label ‘Danelion Meadows’, and the work ‘Scrubi’.

Jake & Anita performed their music at the ‘Classical on Cuba’ festival 2023 (performed at Te Auaha Atea in the Wellington). This show was 30 minute set of songs that they developed over Summer 2023. The title track ‘Water & Coins’ was released as a demo in 2023. J&A were the recipients of the “Metamorphosis Spark Artists 2022” award from Java Dance Company to research and develop this material.

‘Scrubi’ is a piece of art created by a participant following specific instructions interpreted in performance through a guitarist and dancer — at the "‘What if the City was Theatre’ 2021 festival.

They performed their work ‘Hey Becky’ —an imaginary ensemble that challenges what classical music is — at the Pōneke Classical Sessions. J&A perform for after-school and holiday programs as well as in-school workshops and street-art festivals.

In 2021 Jake performed as part of ‘JCJC Guitars’. This included “guitar wizards” Justin Clark and myself, where we aimed to create a magical atmosphere (The Morgan’s Clubhouse 2021). These two projects followed working with Java Dance focusing on improvisation processes between musicians and dancers.

From 2020, Jake worked with Java Dance. Projects include the ‘Metamophasis Artists ’ and ‘Cuba Dupa 2021’ performances. These performances focused on improvisation processes between musicians and dancers, and as a soloist or featured artist. This work allows him to continue expanding his performance and pedagogical practices.

In 2019, Jake attended the inaugural 21C Guitar Conference in Ottawa and presented a seminar of his work on “Collaborating with the Guitar”. A trip to Sweden was funded by the Judith Clark Memorial Fellowship to study qualitative analysis with Professor Stefan Östersjö of Lund University and Stockholm Royal College of Music.

He completed a Master of Musical Arts research degree at the New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī, Victoria University of Wellington under the primary supervision of Dr Jane Curry. His studies explored the collaborative practices between non-guitarist composers and guitarist performers. This repertoire uses a mixture of contemporary style conventions from guitar music.

Jake’s foundational understanding and passion for the guitar was nurtured by Ross Townsend in New Plymouth and the New Zealand classical guitar culture he helped foster. Post-adolescence learning, Jake continues to visit Ross, sharing knowledge, playing duets, being guided by his well of experience. Ross’s historical knowledge of the guitar, position in New Zealand, and experience from his international travels makes him the most influential player in Jake’s musical voice.

Jake has a studio of private students based from St Anne’s Church (Northland), St Benedict’s School, Makara Model School. He customises the educational material for the student’s areas of development and interests to instill the foundational processes of understanding and discipline for execution in classical music practices. Jake worked as one Apollo Music’s guitar tutors between 2019 and 2021 and with Raroa Music Centre’s between 2017 and 2020 while building his practice.

As a soloist and founding member of Duo Kitā, Jake has toured New Zealand and gained numerous performance accolades. Some of these accolades include: the Body/Harris Prize for best performance of a NZ work (Gorzanis Frammenti by Glen Downie, 2017): the New Zealand Aspiring Guitarist Award (2016), the Audience Choice Award (2014), 2nd Place (2014 and 2016) and best performance of a NZ work (2018) at the NZ Classical Guitar Competition, the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) Competition Final with Duo Kitā, and the winner of the Muriel May Competition (2015). He is also a grateful recipient of many grants and scholarships from Creative New Zealand (to commission Auckland composer Alex Taylor),  the Dame Malvina Major Foundation, J. C. Richards Award, Freemasons Lankhuyzen/Whetu-Kairangi Biannual Music Award, Royal Arch Jubilee Scholarship, and Hinemoa-Kairangi Benevolent Trust Scholarship.