Elliot Vaughan

Casual presenter Elliot Vaughan is a composer, performer, and artist based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. His output includes exploratory concert music, composed theatre, pop songs, performance art, and contributions to collaborative projects. He was the 2024 CNZ/NZSM Composer-in-Residence.

For fifteen years he lived in Vancouver, where he completed a BFA at SFU School for the Contemporary Arts and made his living freelancing. His career there extended from arrangements for theatre and pop records to music for dance and contemporary classical composition.

Returning to Aotearoa in 2018 to earn his MMus at Te Kōkī—New Zealand School of Music, Elliot has established himself as a key voice in exploratory composition and performance here. His blurring of performance art and music has been recognised with awards and commissions, including for his shows First Buzzard at the Body (2021) and Fish in Pink Gelatine (2019).

Elliot is violist with the Moth Quartet, and recently formed pop band Eigenface. He joined RNZ Concert in July 2025.