Nigel Butterley

Nigel Henry Cockburn Butterley (13 May 1935 – 19 February 2022) was an Australian composer and pianist.

Butterley was born in Sydney and learned to play the piano at the age of five. He attended Sydney Grammar School, but music was not taught at the school at that time, so he sought training from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.^[1] He then travelled abroad and spent a year in Europe, where he studied with Priaulx Rainier in London.^[2]

After returning to Australia, Butterley composed his work Laudes in 1963. He won the Prix Italia award for his work In the Head the Fire in 1966.^[3] In 1967 he was the inaugural winner of the Albert H. Maggs Composition Award. He continued to compose throughout the following decades, composing works for the Sydney Proms concerts such as Interaction for Artist and Orchestra, music performed while artist John Peart painted^[4] and First Day Covers, a collaboration with Barry Humphries' character Dame Edna Everage.^[5] Butterley went on to win the Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize in 2001.^[6]

Butterley lectured at the Newcastle Conservatorium from 1973 to 1991, and later at the Sydney Conservatorium. He also broadcast programs on ABC Classic FM.

On 10 June 1991, Butterley was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) "in recognition of services to music".^[7]

Butterley died at a nursing home on 19 February 2022, aged 86.^[8][9]

Butterley's compositions were strongly influenced by poetry and are sometimes accompanied by recitation when performed. He composed a series of pieces inspired by the poetry of William Blake, and in later life was inspired by the work of Kathleen Raine.^[10]

Entre sus otras composiciones se incluyen There Came a Wind Like a Bugle , The White-throated Warbler (escrita para Carl Dolmetsch en 1966), Child in Nature , The Wind Stirs Gently , Frogs y Uttering Joyous Leaves .

En 2007, el Coro de Cámara de Sídney encargó una nueva obra, Beni Avshalom , que se completó casi 50 años después de la emblemática obra coral de Butterley, The True Samaritan , que se interpretaba con frecuencia . ^{[ 11 ]}

• Barkl, Michael . 2001. «Butterley, Nigel». The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , segunda edición, editado por Stanley Sadie y John Tyrrell . Londres: Macmillan Publishers.

• Escucha fragmentos de 'In the Head the Fire' en australianscreen online.
• 'In the Head the Fire' se añadió al registro Sounds of Australia del Archivo Nacional de Cine y Sonido en 2009.
• http://www.nigelbutterley.info/ Archivado el 24 de octubre de 2020 en Wayback Machine
• Discografía de Nigel Butterley en Discogs
• Nigel Butterley en IMDb