Death of New Zealand’s leading composer, 77
RIPThe foremost New Zealand composer Lyell Cresswell died today of cancer in Scotland, where he had migrated.
Wellington born, Cresswell lived and worked in Edinburgh from 1985.
He wrote extensively for orchestra and was performed at the BBC Proms. In Scotland, he in Scotland, was artistic director of the Edinburgh Contemporary Arts Trust’s two New Zealand music festivals in 1998 and 2001.
Very sad to see his death, and he was/is certainly one of NZ’s foremost composers. To call him “the foremost New Zealand composer” is an injustice to all the other leading composers, though.