Nigel Butterley, Composer

Nigel Butterley AM (1935-2022) was one of the foremost Australian composers and pianists of his generation. Butterley composed works for solo piano and violin and for string quartets, along with chamber and choral music, opera and several major orchestral compositions. In 1963, he composed Laudes, a piece which established his importance as a composer. His radiophonic choral work In the Head the Fire (1966) was awarded the Italia Prize and in 1985 Butterley was awarded the Don Banks Music Award. He was a member of the music staff at the ABC for a number of years before commencing as a lecturer in contemporary music at the Newcastle Conservatorium, then the University of Newcastle, until his retirement in 1991. He then taught composition at the Sydney Conservatorium and to HSC students. The Sydney Chamber Choir commissioned him to compose Beni Avshalom in 2007.

Robert McFarlane's portrait depicts Butterley at the piano in the midst of creating a composition. The date of the photograph suggests that he may have been working on the choral composition No Man is an Island, which was completed the same year. The reflective surface of the piano shows Butterley's confident fingers working through the notes as he writes. On the wall in the background is John Coburn's Canticle of the Sun (1965), which was a gift to Butterley from the artist.

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Bednall 2021
© Robert McFarlane/Copyright Agency, 2024