Mon 11 May 2015 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Gay New Zealand composer Jack Body has died after a battle with cancer. Body died at the Mary Potter Hospice in Newtown, Wellington,yesterday. It comes just days after he was honoured in a ceremony at the hospice, with a prestigious Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Award, Whakamana Hiranga. The composer, photographer, artist and teacher was a prolific world-class composer with global reach. In 2013 he presented his own homage to Carmen, Dances of Desire, at the Auckland Town Hall. His own work was among that honoured by curator Samuel Holloway in After Lilburn, a nod to New Zealand's gay composers, which ran during Auckland Pride in 2013. “The impact of his artistic life on New Zealand is profound. Jack has given so much to audiences, local and international composers, musicians and students,” the Arts Foundation said of last week’s award. Others to paid tribute included fellow Laureate Dame Gillian Whitehead, who said “Wellington will be a sorry place without your presence, energising, guiding, cajoling.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 11th May 2015 - 8:08am