(Ernest) John Robertson (21 October 1943) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

. He received his preliminary musical educational as part of his schooling in New Zealand. Upon emigrating to Canada in 1967 he took a position in the general insurance business but in the mid 1970s he embarked on a course of private study in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

and

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

the Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

with Dr Sam Dolin. In 1987 an entry in a composition competition won him a performance of his Variations for small orchestra Op 14, and since then his music has been heard in Canada, Australia,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, the UK, Sweden and Bulgaria. In 2014 after some orchestral pieces of his were played in

Ruse, Bulgaria Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; bg, Русе ) is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, approximately south of ...

, the Ruse State Opera asked him to write an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

and the one hour long ''Orpheus'' was staged there in June 2015 and was revived in February and May 2016, and in June 2017.

Personal life

He currently resides in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

, Canada

Works (selection)

Symphonies

* Symphony No. 1 op. 18 (1986) * Symphony No. 2, op. 63 (2014) * Symphony No. 3, op. 71 (2017) * Symphony No. 4, op. 73 (2017) * Symphony No. 5, op. 76 (2018)

Orchestral works

* Overture for a Musical Comedy, op. 15 (1985) * Salome Dances, op. 32A (1991) * Cyrano, op. 53 (2009) * Variations for small Orchestra, op. 14 (1985) * Hinemoa and Tutanekai, for Flute and String Orchestra, op. 22 (1987) * Suite for Orchestra, op. 46 (2005) * Vallarta Suite, op. 47 (2006–08) * Strut In - A March, op. 34 (1993) * Concerto for Clarinet and Strings, op. 27 (1989) * Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra, op. 58 (2013) * Suite from the opera "Orpheus" op. 64 bis (2017) * The Death of Crowe, op. 30 (1990)

Works for Chamber Orchestra

* Serenade for Strings * Serenade in G * Autumn Ramble

Operas

* Orpheus - A Masque

Theatre pieces

* Lady Jane - A Fable

References

* "Lady Jane" First performance in Rusé, Bulgaria 2/June/2017 paired with "Orpheus" * *Re "Orpheus" Overture performance "the piece was gorgeous ... I want to hear this piece again" Puerto Vallarta Daily News 26/3/2015 *lgso.org.uk 2009/10 season 4/7/2010, * *

External links

Videos of Compositions recorded in Ruse, Bulgaria in September 2014 by the Ruse Philharmonic conducted by Anthony Armore * https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIv-_FejPRu3Lb1REiLICBg IMSLP's : * http://imslp.org/wiki/Robertson,_Ernest_John

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, John Living people 1943 births Canadian composers Canadian male composers New Zealand emigrants to Canada Musicians from Kingston, Ontario Musicians from Auckland