10 Facts About Douglas Lilburn

Douglas Gordon Lilburn was a New Zealand composer.

Douglas Lilburn attended Waitaki Boys' High School from 1930 to 1933, before moving to Christchurch to study journalism and music over the next three years at Canterbury University College, then part of the University of New Zealand.

Douglas Lilburn returned to New Zealand in 1940 and served as guest conductor in Wellington for three months with the NBS String Orchestra.

Douglas Lilburn shifted to Christchurch in 1941 and worked as a freelance composer and teacher until 1947.

In 1947, Douglas Lilburn moved to Wellington to take up a position at Victoria University as part-time lecturer in music.

Douglas Lilburn became a full-time lecturer in 1949, senior lecturer in 1955, was appointed Associate Professor of Music in 1963 and Professor with a personal chair in music in 1970.

Douglas Lilburn was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Otago in 1969 and in 1978 was presented with the Citation for Services to New Zealand Music by the Composers Association of New Zealand.

On 6 February 1988, Douglas Lilburn became the eighth appointee to The Order of New Zealand.

Douglas Lilburn was founder of Wai-te-ata Music Press in 1967 and the Douglas Lilburn Trust of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, 1984.

Douglas Lilburn's writings include A Search for Tradition, a talk given at the first Cambridge Summer School of Music in January 1946 and A Search for Language, a University of Otago Open Lecture, March 1969.