Hamilton News
All the music for the new food TV series Real Pasifik is composed by Hamilton born and raised composer Matthew Suttor.
Suttor is a former student of Fairfield College and is now professor and director of the Laurie Beechman Centre for Theatrical Sound Design and Music at the prestigious Yale School of Drama in New Haven, Connecticut, US.
Show producers were lucky enough to enlist him to compose the music for Real Pasifik as he is a long-time collaborator and friend of the series director Anna Marbrook.
Suttor grew up in Hamilton, attending Fairfield College and his family still lives in Hamilton. Paula Spires was his music teacher during his school years and Suttor says she was “just incredible”.
In fact, he believes Fairfield College was a fantastic school for music and that the education he received there placed him on the path to Auckland University, and then a Fulbright Scholarship to Columbia University in New York, and ultimately to a professorship at Yale.
In an email conversation with Hamilton News, Suttor says he returns to Hamilton every year for Christmas.
“My mother, Eileen Suttor, just retired from a staff position at the Waikato Law School and my sister and her family also live in Hamilton,” he says.
“I’ll be back in Hamilton again this Christmas – the first meal is always fish and chips.”
Suttor was a student at Fairfield College from 1981-1985.
“At the time it was a fantastic school, in part because of the mix of socio-economic backgrounds,” he says.
“I remember being really inspired by the students ahead of me; by what they accomplished both academically and musically. From their example I could see a path forward for myself that led to what I have achieved today.
“It all seemed possible.”
Suttor says there were some remarkable students at the school.
“A close family friend, Michael Swain, is the New Zealand Ambassador to Spain; another good friend, Vic Arcus, is professor of Biological Sciences at Waikato, and Richard Naish is an award-winning architect – to name a few.
“I gave a talk to students at Fairfield College about composing, university study, and careers in music in 2005. I was rather shocked when it dawned on me that it been 20 years already since I was sitting in that very classroom.”
Further reading: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hamilton-news/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503366&objectid=11142271
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