Douglas LilburnDouglas Lilburn

Lilburn was at the vortex of arts activity in New Zealand from the 1940s, forging friendships with cultural luminaries such as Allen Curnow, Denis Glover, Rita Angus and Alistair Campbell, and associations with leading arts organisations, from the National Film Unit and the literary journal Landfall to the New Zealand Players and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. At Victoria University of Wellington, where he taught for thirty years, Lilburn helped found what has become the most influential music school in the country. A number of his former students are now leading composers and teachers. His work was recognised with many honours, including a personal chair in composition and the rare Order of New Zealand, New Zealand's highest award. The 'musician with the farmer's hands', as Lilburn once described himself, touched and enriched many lives. This biography is a lively and long-overdue account of an extraordinary man.