27 Facts About Erik Chisholm

Erik William Chisholm was a Scottish composer, pianist, organist and conductor sometimes known as "Scotland's forgotten composer".

Erik Chisholm founded the South African College of Music opera company in Cape Town and was a vital force in bringing new operas to Scotland, England and South Africa.

Erik Chisholm was the son of John Chisholm, master house painter, and his wife, Elizabeth McGeachy Macleod.

Erik Chisholm left Queen's Park School, Glasgow, at the early age of 13 due to ill health but showed a talent for music composition and some of his pieces were published during his childhood.

Erik Chisholm had piano lessons with Philip Halstead at Glasgow's Athenaeum School of Music, now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and later studied the organ under Herbert Walton, the organist at Glasgow Cathedral.

Erik Chisholm graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1931 and as Doctor of Music in 1934.

From 1930 to 1934 Erik Chisholm worked as a music critic for the Glasgow Weekly Herald and the Scottish Daily Express.

Erik Chisholm played the Scottish premieres of Bartok's Piano Concerto No 1 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 3.

Erik Chisholm was the founding conductor of both the Barony Opera Society, the Scottish Ballet Society, the Professional Organists' Association, and in 1938 he was appointed music director of the Celtic Ballet.

Erik Chisholm had many friends in the music world, including composers like Bela Bartok, Bax, Alan Bush, Delius, Hindemith, Ireland, Medtner, Kaikhosru Sorabji, Szymanowski and Walton, and invited many of them to Glasgow to perform their works under the auspices of the Active Society.

Erik Chisholm first formed a multi-racial orchestra in India, but after arguments with his superior, Col.

Many of the musicians were ex-prisoners of War, and from them Erik Chisholm recruited Szymon Goldberg as leader.

Erik Chisholm created a truly cosmopolitan orchestra of fifteen nationalities from East and West, which gave 50 concerts in Malaya within six months.

That year, Erik Chisholm revived the South African College of Music where he eventually would teach composer Stefans Grove and singer Desiree Talbot.

Erik Chisholm performed Menotti's The Consul as well as Chisholm's own opera The Inland Woman, based on a drama by Irish author Mary Lavin.

Erik Chisholm did not support the South African policy of apartheid and had socialist leanings.

Erik Chisholm convinced Ronald Stevenson, a fellow Scot, to perform at the University of Cape Town.

Erik Chisholm died of a heart attack at age 61 and left all his music to the University of Cape Town.

Erik Chisholm's style was called varied, eclectic, and challenging, and his modernism was sometimes considered difficult for audiences.

However, in recent years through the efforts of the Erik Chisholm Trust, founded by Chisholm's daughter Morag, there has been a revival of interest in his music and several works, including orchestral, piano and vocal pieces, have been revived and recorded.

Erik Chisholm had a lifelong interest in Scottish music and published a collection of Celtic folk-songs in 1964.

Erik Chisholm was interested in Czech music, and completed his book The Operas of Leos Janacek shortly before his death.

The biography of Erik Chisholm, written by John Purser with the foreword by Sir Charles Mackerras, Chasing A Restless Muse: Erik Chisholm, Scottish Modernist, was published on 19 June 2009.

Erik Chisholm wrote well over 100 works, including 35 orchestral works, 7 concertante works, 7 works for orchestra and voice or chorus, 54 piano works, 3 organ works, 43 songs, 8 choral part-songs, 7 ballets, and 9 operas including one on Robert Burns.

Erik Chisholm made several interesting arrangements by composers such as Handel and Mozart.

Erik Chisholm arranged a string orchestra version of the Symphony for Solo Piano, Op.

Erik Chisholm's songs include the Seven Poems of Love and settings of William Soutar, including A Dirge for Summer.