Vale Dr Richard Meale AM MBE
Monday, 23 November 2009
One of Australia’s finest composers and former APRA Board Director, Dr Richard Meale AM MBE, passed away Monday 23 November 2009, aged 77.
“On behalf of APRA|AMCOS we extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the late Richard Meale. One of Australia’s most distinguished composers and a valued member of the APRA Board for 22 years, Richard worked tirelessly to guide APRA to where it is today. Richard will be greatly missed by the musical community and all at APRA|AMCOS,” said Mike Perjanik, Chairman of the APRA Board of Directors.
A creative life
For more than four decades, Richard blazed the trail for Australian classical music. He was a pioneer of the current Australian classical music scene.
A pianist, lecturer, conductor, broadcaster and internationally recognised composer, Richard joined APRA as a member in 1954. He was a non-executive writer director on the APRA Board from 1986 to November 2008. His works include Clouds Now and Then, Coruscations, Very High Kings, Symphony, Three Miro Pieces and the operas Voss and Mer de Glace, both performed by the Australian Opera.
Born in Sydney in 1932, Richard Meale studied piano, clarinet, harp, history and theory at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, but in composition remained self-taught. In 1960 he was awarded a Ford Foundation Grant which he used to undertake studies in non-Western music at the University of California in Los Angeles, where he concentrated on Japanese court music and Javanese and Balinese gamelan. Read full biography [AMC website]>>
Composer, and Richard’s former student, Ross Edwards spoke of Richard earlier this year in an interview for APRAP: “I think Richard’s thirst for knowledge has always determined the direction of his music and provided its rationale. He is driven to compose by his enthusiastic responses to the ideas encountered in philosophy, science, literature or other music. He doesn’t feel compelled to compose all the time.”
Australian Music Centre CEO, John Davis, on the occasion of Richard’s 75th birthday in 2007, described him as “a major landmark in the Australian music landscape and whose works contribute in a truly significant way to Australian culture… On the wall at the AMC is a photograph of Richard Meale taken by Bridget Elliot. He stands tall, arms folded; face expressionless, like a Roman senator. The image speaks of authority, experience, knowledge, and wisdom. It is an image that I feel captures the essence of him.”
Go to Australian Music Centre>>
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