Claire Cowan does fine work. Her music - whether film and TV scores or orchestral arrangements - is witty, highly crafted, and emotionally powerful. She enhances every project she’s involved with.

— Don McGlashan

Claire Cowan is hailed as one of New Zealand’s most exciting composers with an impressive array of scoring and composition credits spanning concert, film, television and theatre. Seven prime-time TV soundtracks, multiple "Best Original Score" national awards, several Composer Residencies, and two full length ballets commissioned from the Royal New Zealand Ballet are just a few of the many accolades to her name. In 2021 Claire was awarded “Best Classical Artist” at the Aotearoa Music Awards, and in 2024 she became a New Zealand Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate.

Her passion for collaboration, and her versatility as an orchestrator, has led her to work with the cream of the crop in NZ's pop-music scene; names like Benee, Marlon Williams, Leisure, Tami Neilson and Dave Dobbyn are but a handful of the talents she has joined forces with, reinventing their songs with fully orchestrated versions for New Zealand's most prestigious orchestras.

Notable recent projects include Cinderella for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, music for Under the Vines and One Lane Bridge TV series, Possum Magic for the Australian Ballet School, and eight short chamber commissions from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to accompany iconic Kiwi storybooks. In 2019 Claire created Lo | Co Arts with choreographer Loughlan Prior, with whom she collaborates on a regular basis.

As a performer, Cowan’s expertise lies in strings and keys, often incorporating percussive and folk techniques into her classical string scores. She directs the Blackbird Ensemble a vagabond chamber orchestra who create highly visual and theatrical musical experiences in non-traditional spaces.

In 2023 Claire was the grand prize winner of the Oticons Faculty International Film Music Contest, and the only woman in the Top 10. She is now represented by the Oticons Talent Agency of Europe, representing New Zealand on the international roster of composer talent.