John Albert Exton (28 March 1933 – 13 September 2009) was a British composer of classical music. [1]
John Exton was born in Wolverton, and started to play the violin at the age of 11. In 1950 he became leader of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. [2] He started to read music at the King's College in Cambridge. In 1956 he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship [3] and studied with Luigi Dallapiccola in Florence for a year. After that he continued his studies in Cambridge with Robin Orr and Matyas Seiber. [4] He became Doctor in Music in 1963 and in the same year the director of music at Bedales School.
In 1966 John Exton followed an appointment as a senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia in Perth. He taught composition there until his retirement. Notable students of John Exton include Carl Vine, [5] Jennifer Fowler, [6] [ self-published source ] Ross Bolleter [7] or Stephen Benfall. He died in Perth, aged 76.
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