composers

Peter Sculthorpe

• From the River

Born in Launceston in 1929, Peter Sculthorpe was educated at Launceston Church Grammar School, the University of Melbourne and Wadham College, Oxford. Until recently, he was Professor in Musical Composition (Personal Chair) at the University of Sydney, where he has taught since 1963. He has also taught at various music institutions and universities throughout the world, and he holds honorary doctorates from Tasmania, Melbourne, Sussex and Griffith. An Officer of both the Order of Australia and the British Empire, in 1998 he was elected one of Australia's Living National Treasures.

Peter Sculthorpe has written works in most musical forms, and his output relates easily to the unique social climate and physical characteristics of Australia. Furthermore, his country's geographical position has caused him to be influenced by much of the music of Asia, especially that of Japan and Indonesia. His work is discussed in books by Michael Hannan, Peter Sculthorpe: His Music and Ideas 1929 - 1979. (St. Lucia, 1982); Deborah Hayes, Peter Sculthorpe: A Bio-Bibliography (Connecticut, 1993): and by the composer himself, Sun Music: Journeys and reflections from a composer's life (Sydney, 1999). Graeme Skinner’s biography, Peter Sculthorpe: The Making of an Australian Composer (UNSW Press), covering the years 1929 to 1974, was published in Sydney in 2007.