Doctor of Music a first

 

Published by the Communications and Development Department

 

17 August 2003

Internationally acclaimed composer and Canterbury University School of Music lecturer Chris Cree Brown is to be awarded the first Doctor of Music (MusD) degree by the University of Canterbury.

 

Mr Cree Brown has diverse interests in the areas of sound and music - from conventional composition and electroacoustic music to sound sculpture and sonic art. His work has received national and international acclaim.

 

A recent commission by the contemporary new music ensemble, 175 East, resulted in Memories Apart, which was a finalist in the 2002 APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Association) awards. His most recent work, Icescape, for orchestra, was premiered by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in June, and is a result of his trip to Antarctica under the Artists to Antarctica programme.

 

Another piece, Sound Cylinders for Flute and Tape, has been performed in many countries, and represented New Zealand in the International Flute Convention held in Las Vegas earlier this month. Anthony Ferner (Music) was the flutist.

 

However, currently he is best known for his Aeolian Harp, a musical sculpture that was exhibited in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens for three months in 2002 and was part of Art and Industry's Scape bienale. During this time, tens of thousands of visitors to the gardens enjoyed the magical and ethereal sounds of the Aeolian Harp.

 

Mr Cree Brown says he is elated by the award . . . “its full significance only really sank in after I received notification”.

 

“I hope that it will, in some way, enhance the stature of the new Creative and Performing Arts college [under the University’s proposed restructuring] and the University of Canterbury as a whole.

 

“Equally importantly, I hope it will strengthen the notion within the University community that the field of composition, music creativity, and academic music as a whole are disciplines worthy of study and support. There is an immense potential in this area, and if it is to blossom, it requires a little of the recognition and commitment it enjoyed in Antiquity and Medieval times."

 

Mr Cree Brown will receive his doctorate at the December graduation ceremony.

 

For more information contact:
Deborah Parker
Communications Manager
Canterbury University
Christchurch
Ph 03 364 2910 Mobile 027 4417 280 Email deb.parker@canterbury.ac.nz