Edgar Cree
Edgar Cree (1914-2002) is an English-born conductor.
Contents
Biography
Born on 2 September 1914 in Sheffield, England. He was educated at Oundle School in Peterborough. He won an organ scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge, and afterwards, between 1934 and 1938, studied composition (under Vaughan Williams), conducting (under Constant Lambert) and organ (with Thalben Ball) at the Royal College of Music. He was appointment as junior conductor of the BBC Orchestra when WWII began.
During the war he served as a coastal command pilot, mainly in Burma. Back in London he met René Caprara, director-general of the SABC, and this led to his appointment as conductor of the Studio Orchestra of the SABC, together with Jeremy Schulman, in 1946. In 1947, Cree founded the SABC Choir, known today as the Symphony Choir of Johannesburg.
On a number of occasions Cree was invited as guest conductor of the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra.
After he retired from the SABC in 1974, Cree guest-conducted the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra from time to time. He was chief conductor of the Durban Symphony Orchestra from 1974 to 1976. In 1978 Cree conducted the Concerto Festival of the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra. He became Conductor Laureate of PACOFS in the Free State after 1980. Throughout his career he went on tours abroad to conduct orchestras in England, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium. In April 1975 the University of Natal bestowed an honorary Doctorate on Cree. He died on 21 April 2002 in Durban.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
Operas/ballets conducted by Cree include:
1958: In the Drought for South African Opera Federation
1959: He conducted the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra in a Dulcie Howes' production of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker, with the UCT Ballet Company in the Cape Town City Hall.
1971: La Bohème for NAPAC Opera.
1979: Die Lustige Witwe for PACT.
Sources
Alexandra Xenia Sabina Mossolow[1]. 2003. The career of South African soprano Nellie du Toit, born 1929. Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Stellenbosch.[2]
Sjoerd Alkema. 2012. "Conductors of the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra, 1914-1965: a historical perspective". University of Cape Town. Unpublished PhD thesis.
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