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Rex Hobcroft
Rex Hobcroft AM (12 May 1925 – 23 September 2013) was an Australian pianist, conductor, composer, teacher, competition juror and music administrator. He was the first Australian pianist to play the complete cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas in public; he directed both the Tasmanian and New South Wales State Conservatoria of Music; and he co-founded the Sydney International Piano Competition.
Rex Kelvin Hobcroft was born in Renmark, South Australia in 1925. During World War II he flew in the RAAF, and when over joined then small emerging Ansett Airways to pilot for them for several months. He slipped into studying part-time at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, full-time from 1946 and graduated in 1948 with First Class Honours. He travelled to Paris for further study at the École Normale de Musique in 1949–50.
In 1952 he became an Examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board, and from 1952–56 he worked as a school music specialist with the Music, Speech and Drama Branch of the Western Australian Education Department.
In July 1957 he wrote incidental music for a production in St George's Cathedral, Perth of T. S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral.
In 1957 Rex Hobcroft was appointed foundation head of the keyboard department of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane. He was only the second pianist appointed to a full-time teaching position at a conservatorium in Australia. He retained this position until 1961.
During these years he was also active as a solo, concerto and chamber music pianist and vocal accompanist, and travelled widely in Australia. He also presented a series of music appreciation programs on ABC Radio.
In 1961 Hobcroft became Foundation Head of the Music Department of the University of Tasmania in Hobart. In 1962 he presented the complete cycle of piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven in a series of weekly recitals in Hobart, a first for an Australian pianist. Among the audience was the poet Gwen Harwood, and she was inspired to dedicate a number of poems to Rex Hobcroft (including Four Impromptus and Estuary). The following year, Hobcroft introduced Harwood to the composer Larry Sitsky, which proved to be the start of an artistic collaboration that eventually produced six operas: The Fall of the House of Usher (1965), Lenz (1970), Fiery Tales (1975), Voices in Limbo (1977), The Golem (1980, performed 1993), and De Profundis (1982)
He organised a National Composers' Seminar in Hobart in 1963. This was attended by a majority of Australia's then recognised composers. In conjunction with a similar seminar in 1965, he conducted the world premieres of three Australian operas. These included The Fall of the House of Usher (19 August 1965, Theatre Royal, Hobart). He was later a co-founder and conductor of the Tasmanian Opera Company.
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Rex Hobcroft
Rex Hobcroft AM (12 May 1925 – 23 September 2013) was an Australian pianist, conductor, composer, teacher, competition juror and music administrator. He was the first Australian pianist to play the complete cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas in public; he directed both the Tasmanian and New South Wales State Conservatoria of Music; and he co-founded the Sydney International Piano Competition.
Rex Kelvin Hobcroft was born in Renmark, South Australia in 1925. During World War II he flew in the RAAF, and when over joined then small emerging Ansett Airways to pilot for them for several months. He slipped into studying part-time at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, full-time from 1946 and graduated in 1948 with First Class Honours. He travelled to Paris for further study at the École Normale de Musique in 1949–50.
In 1952 he became an Examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board, and from 1952–56 he worked as a school music specialist with the Music, Speech and Drama Branch of the Western Australian Education Department.
In July 1957 he wrote incidental music for a production in St George's Cathedral, Perth of T. S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral.
In 1957 Rex Hobcroft was appointed foundation head of the keyboard department of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane. He was only the second pianist appointed to a full-time teaching position at a conservatorium in Australia. He retained this position until 1961.
During these years he was also active as a solo, concerto and chamber music pianist and vocal accompanist, and travelled widely in Australia. He also presented a series of music appreciation programs on ABC Radio.
In 1961 Hobcroft became Foundation Head of the Music Department of the University of Tasmania in Hobart. In 1962 he presented the complete cycle of piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven in a series of weekly recitals in Hobart, a first for an Australian pianist. Among the audience was the poet Gwen Harwood, and she was inspired to dedicate a number of poems to Rex Hobcroft (including Four Impromptus and Estuary). The following year, Hobcroft introduced Harwood to the composer Larry Sitsky, which proved to be the start of an artistic collaboration that eventually produced six operas: The Fall of the House of Usher (1965), Lenz (1970), Fiery Tales (1975), Voices in Limbo (1977), The Golem (1980, performed 1993), and De Profundis (1982)
He organised a National Composers' Seminar in Hobart in 1963. This was attended by a majority of Australia's then recognised composers. In conjunction with a similar seminar in 1965, he conducted the world premieres of three Australian operas. These included The Fall of the House of Usher (19 August 1965, Theatre Royal, Hobart). He was later a co-founder and conductor of the Tasmanian Opera Company.