Ian Cugley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ian Cugley is an Australian-born composer currently living and working in the United Kingdom.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
He was born in 1945 and gained early prominence with two orchestral works, Pan, the Lake and Prelude for Orchestra which were performed by the Sydney Symphony in 1967 and subsequently recorded on EMI. His career since then has been less spectacular, and he has a propensity for hiding away and concentrating on composition without seeming overly concerned with performance. He rarely attends performances of his music unless they happen to be close at hand.
[edit] Career
He lectured in Music and Computing at the University of Tasmania for many years, including a period in charge of the small Music department there, and was a percussionist with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. During his time in Tasmania he wrote mainly chamber music, usually on commission for bodies or performers outside Tasmania. A notable exception is the Violin Concerto commissioned by the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music for Jan Sedivka, who was soloist at the first performance in 1980 (with the Tasmanian Orchestra conducted by Patrick Thomas).
Cugley left Tasmania in the early 1980s to go to the UK and virtually disappeared into the Dorset countryside, gaining a meagre income by selling his watercolour paintings, and then as a part-time lecturer in computing in Bournemouth and London.
Unable to work for many years because of illness, he has only recently broken his silence and returned to composing. Since is he largely forgotten in his own country, and unknown in the UK, performances are few. He regards this as an advantage, not only because he resents the work involved in preparing for performance as a distraction from composing itself, but also because he is acutely shy and hates being present when his music is performed. He claims to hear only the wrong notes when his music is played.
He is working again on a set of symphonies first started in 1973. His stated ambition is to die before they are complete, to save all the fuss associated with performance.
[edit] Selected work
Pan the lake for orchestra Prelude for orchestra Three pieces for chamber orchestra Aquarelles, four pieces for piano Chamber symphony String Quartet No.1 Nocturne for Two Guitars, Miscellaneous pieces in imitation of the fall of the flowers Kinderspiele Three fragments for cello flute and piano Gloria Tibi Trinitas Alma redemptoris mater for recorders, instrumental ensemble, Female choir This is the Truth sent from Above: for recorder, oboe, cello and baritone Creation: contemporary dance Sea Changes: one-act opera Fanfare Three little pieces for clarinet and piano Little Suite for Brass Concerto for violin and orchestra Chaconne for orchestra
Cugley won the 2006 'Accomplished Composer' prize in the Notion Realize Music Challenge for Earth Ritual (then entitled just Ritual). A realisation of the work made with Notion software (a condition of the competition) is to be found on the competition web site.[1]
