Meale, Richard

Composer, pianist and teacher. Meale studied music, including piano under Winifred Burston, at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, remaining self-taught in composition. In 1960 he won a Ford Foundation Grant, and used it to study non-Western music at the University of California. In the 1960s and 1970s Meale was acclaimed for works including Nocturnes (1967), Very high kings (1968), Clouds now and then (1969), Soon it will die (1969), Interiors/exteriors (1970), Coruscations (1971), Incredible floridas (1971), Evocations (1973), String quartet (1975), and Viridian (1979). Meale's first opera, Voss, based on Patrick White's novel, premiered in Adelaide in 1986. His second opera, Mer de glace, premiered in Sydney in 1991. David Malouf wrote the librettos for both. In 2003 Meale's Three Miro pieces won Best Composition by an Australian Composer at the Classical Music Awards. In 1985 Meale was awarded AM (Member of the Order of Australia) for services to music.