New Zealand musician and composer Gareth Farr was BOTD [29 February] in 1968. Born in Wellington, he studied music at the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington. After graduating, he performed as a percussionist with the Auckland Philharmonia and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In the mid 1990s he developed his drag persona Lilith LaCroix, a fierce queen who played the bongos during performances. His 1997 cabaret show Drumdrag was performed in New Zealand and around the world. He has written chamber music and orchestral works commissioned for the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, the NZSO, Te Papa (the national museum of New Zealand) and the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Many of his compositions incorporate Indonesian gamelan music and are composed for other instruments to be played in a gamelan-like way. Other notable works include Terra Incognito, based on the last expedition of Robert Scott, and Nor’West Arch, commissioned as a memorial to the victims of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. His 2015 Relict Furies, a memorial to the victims of World War One, premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival, a theme also explored in his 2017 cello concerto Chemin des Dames. Farr lives in Wellington with his partner, the Tongan actor Salesi Le’ota.