Peter dickinson biography

English composer (1934–2023)

For other people named Peter Dickinson, see Peter Dickinson (disambiguation).

Peter Dickinson (15 November 1934 – 16 June 2023) was an English composer, musicologist, author, and pianist.^[1][2]

Biography

Dickinson was born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, and studied organ at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he was a student of Philip Radcliffe.^[3] In 1958 he became a student at the Juilliard School in New York City, and studied with Bernard Wagenaar, and encountered the works of experimental composers such as Cowell, Cage, and Edgard Varèse.

Returning to England in 1962, he established courses in improvisation and experimental music at the College of St. Mark and St. John, Chelsea. After a lectureship at Birmingham (1966–1970), he became the first professor of music at Keele University in 1974, where he created an important centre for the study of American music.

He held that position u