Jack Body is one of New Zealand’s leading composers. His fascination with Asian traditional music has had a profound impact on music which often tells ‘dark stories of repression and unjust political imprisonment’ (New Zealand Listener). Body’s opera Alley tells the extraordinary life of Rewi Alley, whose powerful experiences in China are reflected in these specially orchestrated arias. Palaran: Poems of Love and War draws on the subtleties of Javanese gamelan and traditional vocal styles, while Poems of Solitary Delight gives a musical context to Japanese poet Tachibana Akemi’s light-hearted meditations on solitary pleasures. In contrast My Name is Mok Bhon references Cambodian traditional music to express the trauma and anguish of the Khmer Rouge years.