Peter Sculthorpe

Peter Sculthorpe was born in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1929. He was educated at Launceston Church Grammar School, at the University of Melbourne and at Wadham College, Oxford. While visiting the United States as a Harkness Fellow in 1966-67, he was composer-in-residence at Yale University, and during 1972-73 he was visiting Professor at the University of Sussex. Appointed Reader in Music at the University of Sydney in the late sixties, he is Professor in Musical Composition (Personal Chair) at that University.

In 1977 Sculthorpe was appointed OBE; in that year he was awarded a Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 he was awarded an Order of Australia. The University of Tasmania conferred upon him the degree Honorary Doctor of Letters in 1980; this same degree was conferred upon him by the University of Sussex in 1989 and later in that year the University of Melbourne conferred upon him the degree Honorary Doctor of Music. In 1991, he was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities; and in 1996 Griffith University conferred upon him the degree Doctor of the University. His most recent awards include the highly-prestigious R M Johnston Award from the Royal Society of Tasmania, the first time the award has been given to a non-scientist; and, the honour of becoming one of Australia=s Living Treasures.

The recipient of many awards and prizes for his music, in 1980 his music for the film Manganinnie won an Australian Film Institute Award for best original film score, and in 1985 his Piano Concerto won the APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Association) Award for most performed Australian serious work. In 1991 a recording of his orchestral music won the Australian Record Industry Award for best classical music release, and in 1993 he became the first composer to be honoured by APRA with the Ted Albert Award for outstanding Services to Australian Music. A concert of his music in Kakadu National Park won the 1994 Brolga Award for Tourism, and in the same year he was given the Sir Bernard Heinze Award for outstanding services to Australian music. A recording of his music for string orchestra also won the Australian Record Industry Award for best classical release in 1996 and two awards at the Inaugural Soundscapes Classical Music Awards in 1997. The premiere CD recording of Sun Music I-IV won the 1997 ARIA Award.

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. Certainly he is Australia=s best-known composer, and his works are regularly performed and recorded throughout the world. His work is discussed in Michael Hannan, Peter Sculthorpe: His Music and Ideas 1929-1979, St Lucia, 1982, in Deborah Hayes, Peter Sculthorpe, A BioBibliography, Connecticut, 1993, and in his memoirs, Sun Music, Sydney, 1999.