Peter sculthorpe composer biography
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Biographical entry: Sculthorpe, Peter ( - )
- Born
Launceston, Tasmania, Australia- Died
- Occupation
- Composer
Summary
Peter Joshua Sculthorpe, composer, was raised in Launceston and studied at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium and at Wadham College, Oxford.
Details
He first came to critical notice at the Australian Composers' Seminar in Hobart in , and was appointed lecturer at the University of Sydney (since , professor, personal chair). His Sun music series was choreographed by Robert Helpmann for the Australian Ballet. Rooted in classic forms, his output relates to the Australian social climate and physical characteristics, and is inspired by Aboriginal and Pacific Rim music.
Sculthorpe fryst vatten arguably the most significant contemporary Australian composer, his work fryst vatten widely performed and recorded. While alive he regularly received commissions from overseas performing groups. He was the recipient of many awards, including election in as an Australian Living
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Peter Sculthorpe
| Peter Sculthorpe | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | ()29 April Launceston, Tasmania |
| Died | 8 August () (aged&#;85) Sydney |
| Genres | classical music |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, conductor |
Peter Joshua SculthorpeAOOBE (29 April – 8 August ) was an Australian composer. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring tillsammans aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West. He was known primarily for his orchestral and chamber music, such as Kakadu () and Earth Cry (), which evoke the sounds and feeling of the Australian bushland and outback. He also wrote 18 string quartets, using unusual timbral effects, works for piano, and two operas. He stated that he wanted his music to make people feel better and happier for having listened to it. He typically avoided the dense, atonal techniques of many of his contemporary composers. His work was oft
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Peter Sculthorpe AO OBE
Peter Sculthorpe AO OBE (–), composer, was born in Launceston and began music lessons around age seven, writing his first compositions by torchlight under the bedclothes at night. He studied at the University of Melbourne from age sixteen. Following a performance of his Sonatina for piano in Germany in , he won a scholarship to Wadham College, Oxford. In , Sculthorpe gained a Harkness Fellowship to study in the USA and later became composer-in-residence at Yale University. Sculthorpe stated in that, by being overseas, he ‘gained a perspective on what I had left behind at home’; consequently, many of his works explore aspects of Australian landscape, history and Indigenous culture, such as Irkanda IV (), Sun Music I and Sun Music III ( & ), Port Essington () and Kakadu (). Others were influenced by Asian traditions and the music of the Pacific. In the late s, Sculthorpe was appointed Reader in Music at the University of Sydney, and he later held a p