We regret to announce the death of composer Lyell Cresswell, who was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1944. He moved to Scotland in the 1970s and lived in Edinburgh from 1985. He was versatile and composed music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, choir, voice and solo instruments, and his compositions included concertos for cello (1984), accordion (1995), orchestra and string quartet (1996), trombone (1997), violin and soprano (2001), chamber orchestra (2002) and piano (2010).
Other orchestral works include A Modern Ecstasy (1986), Voices of Ocean Winds (1989), Yur, a St Magnus Festival commission (1991) and I Paesaggi dell’anima (2008). A major work is Shadows Without Sun (2003) which combines elements of oratorio, opera, music theatre and cantata. This was commissioned by the Scottish Arts Council and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
He was also the artistic director of the Edinburgh Contemporary Arts Trust’s two festivals of New Zealand music in 1998 and 2001.
Lyell Cresswell died at his home in Edinburgh on 20th March 2022.