Collection: Penelope Axtens

Penelope Axtens began studies in composition and piano performance at the University of Auckland and completed a Masters degree at Victoria University of Wellington under the tutelage of Ross Harris and John Psathas.

Axtens won the NZSO-Concert FM Music 2000 Prize with her orchestral work Part the Second, which was subsequently performed and and broadcast throughout New Zealand. The prize also included a commission from the NZSO for a 20-minute orchestral work, and this resulted in From the Sixth Hour which was premiered by the NZSO in 2002.

In 2002 Axtens was the recipient of the Composers Association of New Zealand (CANZ) Trust Fund Award, made annually to ’a composer of outstanding potential or achievement’.