Background
Southgate was born in Waipukurau in 1941 to Alfred John and Phyllis (née Maden) Southgate, and grew up in Otago.
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William Southgate
Edit ProfileEducation
Southgate attended Otago Boys" High School from 1954 to 1959 and afterwards, the University of Otago. He graduated with Master of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees, both with first class honours, and also taught composition, instrumentation and fugue.
Career
He was the first New Zealand-based artist to be knighted (as a Knight Bachelor, in 1994). He showed an interest in music early in life and at about the age of five, he discovered a pianola which encouraged him to learn the piano. At the age of nine, he recorded in his diary that he had decided to dedicate his life to music
In 1967, Southgate left New Zealand for London.
While working in London, he also had the opportunity to compose incidental music for a number of theatre productions including scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Southgate returned to New Zealand in 1974, where he was able to continue working as a composer, conductor, and arranger.
During the 1980s, he was a regular broadcaster on Radio New Zealand, presenting programmes on many aspects of music and on diverse composers such as Wilhelm Stenhammar, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Aram Khachaturian. Southgate has had long associations, including terms as principal conductor, with both the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) and for a number of years with the Wellington Youth Orchestra which premiered his Symphony Number.
1. In 1987, he embarked on a cultural exchange visit to Finland, which allowed him to conduct seven different orchestras over a period of seven weeks.
A recording of Southgate conducting the NZSO in the orchestral music of Douglas Lilburn was released on the Continuum label. His earlier recording of Ka Puke Maeroero, composed by Gary Daverne has been released by Electric and Music Industries.
Achievements
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Born
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Nationality
New Zealand