Peter Sculthorpe

Peter Sculthorpe AO OBE (1929 - 2014) is a composer, born in Launceston, Tasmania, and educated in Melbourne and Oxford. He began composing at the age of 20, encouraged by the conductor and teacher Sir Bernard Heinze. Since 1963, he has taught composition at Sydney University. His major works include Sun Music 1 (1963), Sun Music Ballet (1968) and Rites of Passage (1974). Later works have been influenced by Balinese gamelan pieces and music of the Pacific. Sculthorpe's compositions have been described as 'showing an appreciation of the Australian landscape long understood by painters', and this photograph was taken near the home of the composer's painter friend, Russell Drysdale, at Tallow Beach north of Sydney.