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Frederick Page (musician)

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Frederick Joseph Page (1905–1983) was a New Zealand university professor of music, pianist and critic. He was instrumental in the promotion of contemporary classical music in New Zealand.

Early life

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Page was born on 4 December 1905 in Lyttelton, Canterbury, New Zealand.[1]

Music Studies

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From 1920, he studied with Ernest Empson in Christchurch, and from 1935 to 1938 in London at the Royal College of Music. Among his teachers there was Ralph Vaughan Williams.[1]

Teaching

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Back in New Zealand he married painter Evelyn Page in 1938 and settled in Governors Bay.[1]

In 1945/46, Page established the music department at Victoria University College in Wellington where he taught until his retirement in 1971.[1]

In 1950 Page was one of the founders of the New Zealand branch of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Wellington. A transformatory experience was Page's visit in 1958 of the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music and the Donaueschingen Festival in Germany. He became a personal friend of composer Pierre Boulez whose work Page promoted in New Zealand.[1]

In 1960, Page visited China and in 1982 he taught at the Shanghai Conservatorium.[1]

In 1970, he received his only official recognition with an order of merit by the government of Poland.[1]

He died on 29 November 1983 in Wellington.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Thomson, John Mansfield. "Frederick Joseph Page". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.