Composer

Biography

Gary holds the position of Music Director Emeritus of the Auckland Symphony, the orchestra he founded in 1975 and remained resident conductor for 35 years until he handed over the baton to a younger Maestro in 2010.

Gary, a qualified secondary schoolteacher in Commerce and Music, was born and educated in Takapuna on the North Shore of Auckland, NZ. He is an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM), an International Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, Companion of North Shore City and the 2010 recipient of the Variety Artist Club of NZ (VAC) prestigious Benny Award.

He grew up as a Rock ‘n Roller, playing piano and saxophone in top New Zealand rock groups. In the early ‘60s he started his career as a record producer, producing over 40 albums achieving several hit single records and one platinum and two gold albums. In the 1970s he was a leading musical arranger and director for Television New Zealand. During the 1980s and 90’s he was one of New Zealand’s most successful and prolific composers: in the ‘pop’ world, symphonic and accordion music, children’s musicals and creating more than 500 music soundtracks and jingles, for radio, TV and film. Much of his work has over recent years been recorded or digitally re-mastered and released now on CD.

Today, Gary is known as an international composer and orchestral conductor, having conducted many of the world’s major orchestras.

Please check Gary’s web site (www.garydaverne.gen.nz) or his Wikipedia site for more detailed information.