University professor of music, pianist, critic
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
Page was born on 4 December 1905 in Lyttelton , Canterbury , New Zealand .[ 1]
Music Studies
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
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
International National Artists Other
