Musical Portrait: A Fiftieth Anniversary Project

Ted Dawson was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in 1951, and began his musical studies in violin, piano, and composition in 1962 at the Victoria School of Music with a scholarship from School Director Otto Werner Mueller. From 1962-67, he also gained choral experience through ensemble work at Christ Church Cathedral and in the Victoria Choral Society.

Ted Dawson began his undergraduate studies in 1968, enrolling in the B. Mus programme in composition at the University of Victoria, while simultaneously working as violist for 4 seasons with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. In 1972, he won the CAPAC WIlliam St. Clair Low Fellowship and the Murray Adaskin Award, and began graduate studies in composition and electronic music at the University of Toronto. He completed his Master of Musical Arts the following year at McGill University, studying composition with Bengt Hambraeus and Alcides Lanza. Between 1984 and 1995 he further supplemented these studies with a Bachelor of Education (Honours Specialist) in music and visual arts from the University of Toronto (1985) and a Ph. D. in music composition (1995) from the State University of New York at Buffalo, studying with American composer Charles Wuorinen, theorist Martha Hyde, master percussionist/conductor Jan Williams, and musicologist Jeremy Noble. He was nominated for academic excellence to membership in the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honour Society.

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