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Sir malcolm williamson biography

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Malcolm Williamson

Biographical Information

Sir Malcolm Williamson, 72, Chairman of the Board of Signet Jewelers "appointed a director of the Company in 2005 and Chairman since June 2006. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of Visa International between 1998 and 2004 before which he was Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered PLC from 1993 to 1998. He is Chairman of National Australia Group Europe Limited and Youth Business International Advisory Board. He is also Chairman of Friends Provident Holdings (UK) Plc, a non-executive director of National Australia Bank Limited and Friends Provident Group plc, a member of the Board of Trustees for The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum and Chairman of the Cass Business School Strategy & Development Board. He was, until May 2008, a Director and Deputy Chairman of Resolution Plc, and until May 2008 and January 2010, respectively, a non-executive director of G4S PLC and of JP Morgan Cazenove Holdings. He was also Chairman of CDC Group plc until January 2010. Sir Malcolm joined the Board with a view to be

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Even Australia’s most astute theatre enthusiasts might have a hard time recognising the name Malcolm Williamson. It’s a shame – Williamson was arguably Australia’s most successful composer, acutely eccentric, and unapologetically queer.

Williamson (1931-2003) is the composer behind Victorian Opera’s off-the-wall production of English Eccentrics, as well as a ream of symphonies, stage works, chamber, choral and religious music, and even film scores. Over his lifetime he produced an astonishing 250 works, including 13 operas, earning him the label of “the most commissioned composer of his generation”.

But by the time of his death in 2003, he was all but forgotten, especially in his homeland of Australia. There is no single reason why, only a few vague speculations.

One is that Australians never took to Williamson’s work because they resented him for nurturing his talents in the UK, much like many other Australian creatives who moved to London after World War II. Or perhaps it’s that Williamson missed a critical deadline for completing a symphony for the Queen’s Silver

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Malcolm Williamson

Australian composer (1931–2003)

This article is about the composer. For the cryptographer, see Malcolm J. Williamson.

Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson, AO, CBE (21 November 1931 – 2 March 2003) was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death. According to Grove Music Online, although Williamson's earlier compositions aligned with Serialist techniques, "he later modified his approach to composition in the search of a more inclusive musical language that was fundamentally tonal and, above all, lyrical. In the 1960s, he was commonly referred to as the most often commissioned composer in Britain, and over his lifetime he produced more than 250 works in a wide variety of genres."[1]

Life and career

Williamson was born in Sydney in 1931; his father was an Anglican priest, Rev. George Williamson. He studied composition and horn at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His teachers included Eugene Goossens.[2] In 1950 he moved to London where he worked

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