Ashley Heenan

Ashley David Joseph Heenan was born in Wellington on 11 September 1925. He was educated at Nelson College from 1939-1942 and attended Victoria University of Wellington from 1945-1947 and 1954-195,5 graduating DipMus and BMus. He was awarded a Government Bursary in 1948 and attended London's Royal College of Music from 1948-1950.

Heenan was employed on the permanent staff of the Broadcasting Commission of New Zealand from 1943 until his retirement in 1984, holding the positions of Music Librarian (1944-1947 and 1951-1952), Concert Department Touring Representative (1953-1954), Musical Assistant to the conductors of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (1954-1967), Music Organiser (1964-1967), Conductor and Musical Director of the National Youth Orchestra (1965-1975) and Conductor and Musical Director of the Schola Musica, the NZSO's training orchestra (1961-1984). He was the recipient of a UNESCO Fellowship from 1962-1963.

Heenan also held positions as Music Co-ordinator for the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council (now Creative NZ) from 1964-1965 and Musical Director of the NZ Ballet Company (now the Royal New Zealand Ballet) from 1966-1968. He was the first NZ Consultant and (from 1956) NZ Writer-Director of APRA. He was chairman of the APRA Music Committee in NZ from 1966-1981 and also of the NZ Composers Foundation since its inception in 1983 until it was discontinued in 1992. He was a founding member of the board of the Centre for New Zealand Music where he served from 1991-1997.

Ashely Heenan is the author of numerous articles on music, music education, instrumental training and diverse radio scripts. His publications include The Schola Musica (1974) and The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (1976).

Aside from his career as a composer, broadcaster and conductor, Ashley Heenan also had a successful career in croquet. He was the New Zealand representative in 1961, winner of the the English Doubles in 1950 and winner of the NZ Croquet Open Singles five times.

Ashley Heenan died on 6 September 2004.